Axon’s Apartment Plans
A complaint has been filed in Maricopa County Superior Court challenging the legality of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Axon and the City of Scottsdale that claims to allow Axon to build a 1,200-unit housing project near Hayden and the 101 in Scottsdale.
The complaint was filed January 26th by TAAAZE (Taxpayers Against Awful Apartment Zoning Exemptions), Bob Littlefield, former Scottsdale City Councilman and TAAAZE’s Chairman, and a Scottsdale resident who lives right next to the site.
TAAAZE’s legal team at Coppersmith Brockelman PLC claims the MOU is illegal and invalid under Arizona law and the Scottsdale City Charter.
A 4-3 vote of the Scottsdale City Council in November tried to sidestep a public referendum and a full public hearing by improperly declaring the MOU an administrative action. During and after the vote Scottsdale Mayor Lisa Borowsky, who cast the deciding vote in favor of the Axon apartments while invalidating the election to vote on them, claimed her “compromise” would limit Axon to 600 apartments and 600 condominiums, yet she failed to include any such safeguards effectively relegating the approval to 1,200 apartments. The Axon apartments would thus remain one of the largest zoning changes for apartments in state history.
According to the complaint, the MOU is actually a zoning ordinance, which cannot be approved before the City follows certain procedures and affords its residents due process. Specifically:
- The City did not consider a housing impact statement prior to entering the MOU.
- The City did not consider the individual property rights and personal liberties of the residents of the municipality before entering the MOU.
- The City did not hold a public hearing on the MOU.
- The City did not provide notice to the public 15 days prior to a public hearing on the MOU.
To make matters worse, the complaint claims Axon received a whole new series of perks in the MOU that were not contained in previous agreements with the City, such as sidestepping traditional water and inspection requirements:
“The MOU further purports to grant to Axon notable new benefits beyond what was authorized through the Axon Zoning Ordinance, which significantly impact Scottsdale residents. These new benefits include granting Axon an exemption from the previous ‘requirement for Axon to purchase long term storage credits from the Gila River Water Storage, LLC’ and to transfer such water to Scottsdale, to ensure sufficient water for Axon’s proposed project.”
Littlefield said, “The MOU took a lousy deal for the City and made it worse. And they made this deal trying to duck public scrutiny. Our complaint seeks to restore the rule of law in Scottsdale and make it clear that residents are the ones in charge of Scottsdale.”
TAAAZE is still pursuing a lawsuit against Senate Bill 1543, also known as the “Axon Bill,” which requires cities of a certain size to approve residential projects on “international headquarters.” It’s a bill designed for Axon and Axon alone. That case is expected to be heard in March. If TAAAZE succeeds in that litigation, it would also have the effect of invalidating the MOU.
In December 2024, TAAAZE submitted nearly 27 thousand signatures to challenge a previous lame duck council decision to approve nearly 1,900 apartments.
To learn more about TAAAZE go to www.ProtectOurScottsdale.com