By Les Conklin
Urban Sprawl, Phoenix Area. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
“If men could learn from history, what lessons it might teach us! But passion and party blind our eyes, and the light which experience gives us is a lantern on the stern which shines only on the waves behind.” Samuel Taylor Coleridge
In 1968, Maricopa County erected two Desert Foothills Scenic Drive entry parks, each marked with identical Desert Foothills Scenic Drive monument signs. Each sign designated a southern entrance to the 17-mile U-shaped scenic drive that ran up Scottsdale Road and back down Cave Creek Road. Dozens of trees and shrubs representing more than 20 plant families were identified by redwood signs along the two roads.
Corki Cockburn, a founder of the Scenic Drive, recalls that in 1963, she and her husband were driving home on Cave Creek Road through saguaros and thickets of jumping cholla. “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.” Residents learned from Mesa’s experience and created the Scenic Drive to have a positive long-term impact on tourism, quality of life, and the natural environment.
Impact of Annexation
Urban Sprawl Anywhere, USA
Much has changed since 1968. The Cave Creek Road section of the Scenic Drive, the northern border of which is Carefree Highway and the border of Cave Creek, is now part of Phoenix. The Scottsdale Road section, the northern border of which is Carefree Highway and the Carefree line, is part of Scottsdale. The Scenic Drive monument sign on Cave Creek Road now occupies a barren lot, surrounded by a barbed wire fence. (Actually, this was not the original sign. It was bulldozed by a developer, who was forced to replace it by former Cave Creek councilperson Jo Walker). When you drive north on Cave Creek Road, you will notice that all the plant identification signs have vanished, saguaro have been harvested, houses and commercial buildings are visible, and close to the road, major intersections are marked by commercial development. At the intersection of Lone Mountain and Cave Creek Roads, large commercial buildings are clearly visible from the Scenic Drive. A Wal-Mart now does conducts swift business at the intersection of Cave Creek Road and Carefree Highway. History has been ignored, and the opportunity to create something special drifts astern.
Differentiating Amenity
The desert, desert vistas, and rural neighborhoods are what make the Scenic Drive unique. In 1994, I approached Scottsdale City Manager Dick Bowers with the idea of restoring the drive to preserve the desert, create a new Scottsdale amenity, and establish a shared identity for adjacent residential neighborhoods and businesses. Dick’s answer was unambiguous. “The city will help in every way it can.” Later, I approached the City of Phoenix to initiate a similar initiative for Cave Creek Road. The idea was not supported. Since that time, Scottsdale and Friends of the Scenic Drive have worked to restore, maintain, and enhance the drive, including updating the original monument sign.
Process in Peril
Now, the Scottsdale’s Scenic Drive faces the most dangerous threat in its long history. The State Land Department is proposing that the zoning of the area including and adjacent to the Scenic Drive’s exhibit area be changed to commercial and resort/tourism. If this up-zoning proposal is successful, we’ll see similar successful attempts. In time, the desert ambiance of the Scenic Drive and north Scottsdale will be “normalized” having suffered a “death from a thousand cuts.” The result will be intersections, vistas, and buildings that more closely resemble those in Mesa, Phoenix, and L.A. I know that is not what Friends of the Scenic Drive volunteers expected as they cleared litter, lobbied to bury power lines, and worked on enhancement projects for the last 17 years. What about the residents who helped the city draft plans and ordinances to protect north Scottsdale and the natural environment; was their work in vain? As long as there are open spaces and saguaro standing to the north and east, will urban sprawl continue “normalizing” our neighborhoods and roads?
Will the Scenic Drive’s 51st anniversary in 2015 be a celebration or a memorial service? With Bond 2000 funds finally being used to enhance the Scenic Drive section of Scottsdale Road, the opportunity to create a uniquely Scottsdale amenity lays ahead, but only if the character and heritage of the area is preserved. The future is up to us. “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” George Santayana.
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