By Les Conklin
The State Land Department is requesting new commercial and resort/tourism zoning on North Scottsdale Road. If this request is approved, the promise of Scottsdale’s Scenic Drive and more than five decades of community service related to it, will have been betrayed.
The Promise
The picture below shows a plaque located at Scottsdale’s Scenic Drive exhibit area. Please, read the text on the plaque. It describes a vision of a special, non-commercial roadway, a roadscape that is significantly different from Scottsdale Road south of the Scenic Drive. If Scottsdale approves the state’s plan, the entire exhibit area, including this plaque and its visionary text, will likely be bulldozed and replaced with a shopping center or other type of commercial activity.
The Scenic Drive’s founder, Corkie Cockburn, had the idea to create the Scenic Drive in 1963. She later wrote “… We spoke of our fear that the roadside would become lined with neon-lit gas stations and motels like Apache Boulevard in Mesa where we had been earlier in the day. Creating the Scenic Drive was our way of preserving the desert…”
Obliterating the exhibit area and building a shopping area is a direct assault on the promise of the Scenic Drive. Even worse, the action will set a precedent and encourage more commercial development along the remaining six miles of the Scenic Drive from Jomax Road to Carefree Highway. Did you know that commercial zoning on the Scenic Drive, e.g. The Summit and Terravita shopping centers, etc., was in place before Scottsdale annexed the area in the mid-80s? Since annexation, developers have requested changes in zoning on some Scenic Drive parcels from residential to commercial, but because of widespread opposition the requests were withdrawn or denied. In one case, the Scottsdale City Council actually changed the zoning from commercial to residential. Shea Boulevard was Scottsdale’s first scenic corridor? The Scenic Drive was the first “scenic corridor” in Maricopa County. Does it deserve the same fate as Shea? Does Scottsdale really want to set the precedent and encourage upzoning? The historical records says “NO!”
Carefree Founders Supported Drive, (l-r) Les Rhuart, Tom Darlington, K.T. Palmer
The People
Over the decades hundreds and hundreds of individuals and businesses have donated thousands of hours and dollars to create, maintain, publicize, and/or to help fund Scenic Drive projects. The state’s proposal mocks their efforts. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to include photographs and names of the many people who supported the Scenic Drive by supporting fund-raisers, picking up litter, creating plant exhibits, and supported the organizations that created and have maintained the drive for more than five decades.
You will recognize the names of some of the listed people, some have moved away, and some have passed away. Their contributions to our community’s environment and quality of life are no less important than those made in support of more recent preservation initiatives. These efforts of the people listed below need to be encouraged, not the reverse.
Herb Drinkwater
Karl & Katy Arrington, Friends of the Scenic Drive Plant Parents – Tracy Armstrong, Eagle Scout, Dean Barber, Cave Creek Improvement Association – Benhart Landscaping – Horst & Barbara Berkner, Friends of the Scenic Drive Plant Parents – Jacque Bigelow, Friends of the Scenic Drive Plant Parents – Dick Bowers, Scottsdale City Manager – Bob Cafarella, City of Scottsdale -,Marty and Cathy Cambal, Friends of the Scenic Drive Plant Parents – Katheryn “Sam” Campana, Scottsdale Mayor – Bob Cappel, Greater Pinnacle Peak Association President – Cave Creek Building Supply – Cave Creek Improvement Association Members – Cave Creek Museum – Remington Charles, Eagle Scout – Peter Cherry, Friends of the Scenic Drive – Les & Judy Conklin, Scenic Drive Plant Parents, Tim Conner, City of Scottsdale – Barbara Copeland, Greater Pinnacle Peak Association President – Corkie Cockburn, Desert Foothills Scenic Drive Founder, Tom Darlington & K.T. Palmer, Carefree Founders – Desert Foothills Cookouts – Herb Drinkwater, Scottsdale Mayor – Friends of the Scenic Drive Adopt-A-Road Volunteers – Bob and “Sam” Fox,, Wild At Heart – Greater Pinnacle Peak Association Members Fred Griffith, President, Cave Creek Improvement Association Jane Hiltbrand, Friends of the Scenic Drive Plant Parents Don Hutton, Maricopa County Planning Commission – Pete & Marvis Konjevickoy, Friends of the Scenic Drive Plant Parents – Jim Lane, Scottsdale Mayor – Cindy Lee, Friends of the Scenic Drive – Norbert & Judith Lenhard, Friends of the Scenic Drive Plant Parent – Ken Lew, Friends of the Scenic Drive Plant Parent – Cynthia Lukas, Greater Pinnacle Peak Association President – MacDonald’s Ranch – Maricopa County Board of Supervisors – Maricopa County Planning & Zoning – Mary Manross, Scottsdale Mayor – Mazatzal Tree Farms – Bill Metcalfe, Cave Creek Improvement Association – Bob Miller, Friends of the Scenic Drive Volunteers – Carol & Howard Myers – The Nelssen Family: Marg, Tony, Hanna, Friends of the Scenic Drive Plant Parents – Gladys Nisbet, Botanist – Outback Steakhouse – Jane Rau, Greater Pinnacle Peak Association President – Les
(l-r) Mayor Lane, Scenic Drive Founder Corkie Cockburn, Marg Nelssen, and Bob Littlefiled.
Rhuart, Carefree General Manager – Maxine & Marc Rosenberg, Friends of the Scenic Drive Plant Parents – Don Schoenau, Greater Pinnacle Peak Association President – Ginger Schoenau, Greater Pinnacle Peak Association Board Member – Scottsdale City Council – Scottsdale Planning & Zoning – Scottsdale Historical Society – BJ Shannon, Friends of the Scenic Drive Plant Parent – Edie Shannon, President, Friends of the Scenic Drive – Marty & Beverly Sims, Friends of the Scenic Drive Plant Parents – Arnie & Sherry Swensen, Friends of the Scenic Drive Plant Parents – Terravita HOA – Vince Thelander, Cave Creek Improvement Association – Ed Villa, City of Scottsdale – Jo Walker, Cave Creek Improvement Association Larry & Verna Wangler, Friends of the Scenic Drive Volunteers
(l-r) Jane Rau, Barbara & Bill Copeland
THINK!
Most, if not all, of the people listed above, would agree with the sentiment expressed by a Cave Creek couple in a recent article in The Peak. They wrote, “We do not want to see hotels and strip malls all up and down Scottsdale Road! We have more than enough commercial space as it is. Proof of this is the fact that there is a LOT of vacant commercial space all along Scottsdale Road from the Carefree border and all the way down to the Grayhawk area. El Pedregal has had empty stores for years and so has the Terravita center across from it. The AJ’s center at Lone Mountain Rd has had empty space since it opened, what 8-10 years ago? There are vacancies in several of the office building complexes all up and down this stretch of Scottsdale Road.”
Arizona is a place of uncommon natural beauty that relies on tourism for its economic well-being. By supporting an historic landmark, the state will be supporting tourism, community service, and the long-term vitality of communities connected by Scottsdale’s Scenic Drive. To betray the Scenic Drive’s promise and push urban sprawl further north on Scottsdale Road may be “business as usual” and the “normal” thing to do, but it is wrong, not the right thing to do for the people or the promise.
BJ and Edie Shannon, Restored Plant Exhibit
Horst Berkner, Replica of Original Entry Sign
Tony Nelssen, Hanna Nelssen, Marg Nelssen
How You Can Help
It’s never too late to start helping. Some people pitched in 50 years ago when the Scenic Drive was under the jurisdiction of Maricopa County, some 30 years ago when it became part of Scottsdale, and some got involved this year. Sign and get your friends and neighbors to sign our Save the Scenic Drive petition, below.
Petition in Opposition to Scottsdale Rezoning of State Trust Land – PDF.
Related Articles
Cave Creek Residents “Vehemently” Object to State’s Commercial Development Proposal – Published: July 24, 2015
Scenic Sprawl Town! – Published: July 13, 2015
Save Scenic Drive: Stay True to Scottsdale General Plan & Character Area Plan – Published: June 14, 2015
SEE “Save the Scenic Drive” Videos – Published: February 20, 2015
Scottsdale’s Scenic Drive: 52 Reasons to Save a Landmark Service Project – Published: May 9, 2015
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