Posted By Les Conklin on Jul 24, 2015

The following letter to The Peak was received on June 3, 2015 from a reader and her husband.   We invite you to use the comment area beneath this article or to submit your own letter for publication. In case you have not seen it yet, we are providing a link to the video, “Save the Scenic Drive from MORE Commercial Development” that is referred to in the letter’s opening paragraph. Editor  Watch Video

Hello,

We just found your video describing what the State would like to do to our neighborhood and are writing to say, “We Object!”. While we are not Scottsdale residents, we do live within a stone’s throw of the Scottsdale/County Island boundary near Lone Mountain and Scottsdale Rd. Having lived here for 27 years, we have seen a lot of change which is inevitable. However, there has been far too much change for benefit of certain developers rather than a steadfast adherence to a strong plan to preserve what little is left of the “rural equestrian” lifestyle in Scottsdale and the far Northeast Valley.

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 open spaces in several of the office building complexes all up and down this stretch of Scottsdale Rd. These vacancies need to be filled 100% and for there to be a real demand for more commercial space before anyone dares to think of building more!

As for a hotel resort – NO! This stretch of the Scottsdale Rd area was planned to be more rural in nature. All over this far NE area, we still have a lot of dirt roads, large horse properties and many people still keep horses and ride them. Chickens, goats, emus and donkeys too. Even camels! An intense commercial hospitality use is not compatible with what already exists. Period. Shall we all just move out so the tourists can have a perfect desert dream experience free of any inconvenience of being confronted with the real lives of real rural dwellers in this area? Not acceptable. Want more hotels? Put them down at the 101 and Scottsdale Road where they belong.

Scottsdale must live up to its commitments to safeguard the Desert Foothills Scenic Drive and to the rural zoning and the space required for those of us living here in that zoning to continue to live the rural lifestyles we chose when moving to the area. Hundreds, thousands of us, paid a premium to live here in this far NE area. We came and we paid for the larger properties, for longer commutes and all costs that entails, for more vehicle wear and tear traversing our dirt roads, even for higher insurance and mortgage financing due to choosing an “odd” underdeveloped area (an appraiser actually said that to us!). We accepted this knowing we were choosing “rural” – if we lose that, what did we pay all that extra for?

We made our commitment, why should we be brutalized now by forcing heavy development on us when it will ruin our way of life? And I have not even touched upon how such intense development will adversely impact area wildlife corridors, effectively cutting out residents ability to watch wildlife as it will not be able to live “naturally” in the urbanized development. Oh, we’ll be able to see coyotes and javelina scavenging in alleys and running across parks, streets and parking lots. But if we’d chosen to live down in the city, we could see that today. Right now, they live in the REAL desert outside our own doors and this is what we relish: watching as they live near us, with us.

This rural desert nature in the Foothills is what is so attractive to tourists but they certainly will not be seeing it out the windows on their drive north on Scottsdale Rd as they do now once every square foot is ripped up and replaced with strip malls and commercial spaces. And the appearance of these developments cannot be adjusted in any way to make them acceptable since their very existence means the absolute and finite destruction of the last of the real desert that is the muse of so many, residents and visitors alike.

For goodness’ sake, Scottsdale leaders cannot be that stupid as to choose to kill the golden goose they have left, the Scenic Drive, can they? Phoenix killed their portion of it and what did they get in return? Nothing much other than cookie cutter housing and commercial development destroying what had been a stunning drive that pulled tourists up from Phoenix to see the real desert.

We vehemently disagree with any approval of commercial development along Scottsdale Road at this time. Even when the demand for space is REALLY there (i.e. there is not a lot of area vacant commercial sitting fallow) future commercial development in this area must be concentrated around the old  Rawhide site and further south down Scottsdale Road where so much has already been destroyed but where there is still plenty of room to fill in more of the bladed lots between what now exists.

And no matter what, the Scenic Drive MUST be preserved as it exists right now so that Arizonans and visitors can still see the splendor  that has enchanted and thrilled so many. We cannot allow the destruction of the only remaining, the basic essence of natural beauty we have left here along one of our signature roadways  to placate the State Land Department. Scottsdale and all area residents must stand up against this steamroller tactic!

Regards,

Long-time Residents

Cave Creek, AZ

“Black Mountain Forever” by Beverly Smith, 2014