Will October Be A Good Or A Bad Month For Scottsdale Residents?

Posted By The Peak on Sep 28, 2021

October 28, 2021

By Bob Littlefield

In October the Scottsdale City Council will be voting on three massive apartment complexes (92 Ironwood, The District at 9400 and Greenbelt 88, totaling over 800 units). Each of these projects faces near unanimous opposition from the surrounding residential neighborhoods. What is there about these projects that makes them so unpopular?

Glad you asked…..

TRAFFIC: Anyone who has spent any time driving around our city has seen for themselves how the overdevelopment of the last 10 years has clogged our streets. And each of these projects will put thousands of new car trips on our already overburdened streets. This is particularly true of the projects on Shea Boulevard which, if approved, will add almost three thousand new car trips per day to one of the most crowded sections of road in our city. This will be a disaster for both the nearby residents and for the many commuters who use Shea Boulevard.

LOSS OF RETAIL: Like many of the apartment projects approved by the Scottsdale City Council over the last 10 years these projects will replace retail with apartments. This forces Scottsdale residents to travel to neighboring cities to shop. It also deprives the city of much needed sales tax revenues.

DIMINISHED CHARACTER: Scottsdale is a very special place – it is literally the best place in the Valley to live, work and visit. It is so special every one of us who lives here, in every part of the city, gladly paid a premium to do so. It is so special it is the number one tourist destination in the valley, attracting visitors who heavily support our local economy. Part of Scottsdale’s special character is our reputation as a low-density, low-height community with stunning views and great amenities. Tall, dense crowded apartment buildings diminish those assets. This is especially true of Greenbelt 88 which is proposed to be built on one of the jewels of South Scottsdale, the Indian Bend Wash Greenbelt.

Proposed Greenbelt 88 Project

AFFORDABLE HOUSING, NOT: The supporters of these projects claim they should be approved because Scottsdale needs “affordable housing.” Unfortunately for their claim, even the President/CEO of the Arizona Multihousing Association, the lobbying group for apartment developers, admitted in an interview in the Scottsdale Progress that NONE of these projects qualifies as “affordable housing.” This entire claim is a scam.When you look at all these negatives you can easily understand why the neighbors are opposed to these projects, each of which will have substantial negative impacts on their quality of life. The mystery here is why, with most of the current City Council members having been elected on a platform of listening to the residents, the Council would even consider approving any of these projects! So the big question is, who on the City Council will step up and actually support the residents?

Bob Littlefield

Paid for by “Keep Scottsdale Special,” Bob Littlefield, Chairman. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee.

Our mailing address is:
Keep Scottsdale Special
8926 E. Sheena Drive
Scottsdale, AZ 85260

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