You will soon see two or more 150 foot high buildings rising into the sky in Scottsdale, just north of the Fashion Square Mall. The Scottsdale City Council just took ‘Zoning for Dollars’ to the MAX. The developer is paying $750,000 into a city trust fund for downtown ‘Cultural improvements’.
The Scottsdale code for commercial building height is 60 feet high there, yet the Fashion Square is already at 90 feet. This is another sad political decision when over 300 local residents petitioned against this plan, and were ignored by the officials elected to represent them. If this is not ‘Zoning for Dollars’ then what is?
Farther north, here in Carefree, a developer group just got approval ( 6-1 vote ) to start development of an Apartment complex in the Carefree Town core, where the maximum building height is restricted to 30 feet by code. The proposed building fronting on Easy Street will easily be 62 to 68 feet tall including all the roof top structures. AND CAREFREE DID NOT GET ANY UP-FRONT ‘CULTURAL DOLLARS’? Maybe the Carefree building will get another worthless award,like the Firehouse.
If Town Hall wants to continually ignore our zoning codes and the General Plan we all voted for, then perhaps they don’t really reflect our true values or interests. Awards make some people feel good, sort of like ‘participation’ awards they give all the kids these days, but paper awards don’t put money in our merchants pockets or sales tax revenue in our treasury. In return for granting approvals to these new developers and for allowing them to forever change the character of our town, a few handshakes and smiles were exchanged. There were no dollars for cultural improvements here! Nor did our residents get a chance to vote on what maybe is a Major Amendment to our Code. And we will soon be in the 12th year of different ideas for this vacant lot. Last time the height was 42 feet. Now it will be plus 65 ft. or more.
Even if TOWN HALL had insisted on this type of ransom, I would still have been a strong NO vote. Unfortunately the Council does not get another chance to review a more detailed proposal on this project, even though I pleaded to allow another review.
Let the Mayor and the Town Council know your thoughts on this and other upcoming zoning change requests. Silence will mean the end of Carefree as we know it.
Jim Van Allen
Carefree resident and Council member
