A bill making its way through the Arizona Legislature would block Scottsdale voters from voting to stop construction of 1,895 new apartments and condos. SB 1543, a striker bill sponsored by State Representative Tony Rivero (R-Peoria), would allow the TASER and body camera manufacturer Axon to build apartments for employees by its headquarters in north Scottsdale on a sprawling 70-acre campus, even though the land is not zoned for the high-density housing. Axon founder Rick Smith threatened to move his company out of Arizona if he cannot build the development near Hayden Road and the Loop 101.
State Representative Joseph Chaplik (R-Scottsdale) issued a lengthy statement denouncing HB 1543 after it passed the House International Trade Committee 8-0 on Wednesday with two members absent. He said the bill was “a brazen attempt by one man to overturn the will of voters and retroactively force 1,900 unwanted apartments on the city of Scottsdale, using legislators to do his bidding under the guise of free markets and pro-business policy. SB1543 allows companies to build multifamily units on light industrial zoned land without city council’s or residents’ approval.”
Instead, “27,000 Scottsdale voters already expressed locally by petition that they want the unwanted apartments put to a vote,” Chaplik said, referencing an effort to send the housing project to Scottsdale voters for a vote, which has obtained well over enough signatures to make the ballot. Former city councilman Bob Littlefield, who is leading the effort with Taxpayers Against Awful Zoning Exemptions (TAAZE), said in an email that Smith and his staff “have managed to persuade some state legislators from outside Scottsdale (Buckeye and Sierra Vista) to introduce legislation that would prohibit all future referendums on land use issues for all the citizens in all of the cities in Arizona!”
Councilman Barry Graham and Councilwoman Kathy Littlefield voted against Axon’s rezoning request in November. Graham said the two bills would “eliminate constitutional rights to refer rezoning decisions to the ballot” and “disenfranchise the 27,000 Scottsdale residents who signed the petition to refer Axon’s 1,900 apartments to the ballot.”
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