Scottsdale elected leaders offer 2019 hindsight as new calendar year commences

By Melissa Rosequist
Twitter: @mrosequist_

January marks a new year, a new decade and a defining moment for the City of Scottsdale.

As elected leaders look forward to the new year --- and reminisce on the last 12 months --- the seven sitting City Council members point out the tasks and challenges that lie ahead.

In 2019, Scottsdale saw the approval of a major bond program for the first time in nearly 20 years; as well as the approval of development projects to carry the city into its next era. Projects ranging from the Scottsdale Stadium to downtown live, work and play campuses spent significant time on the council’s dais.

Building upon the work done this past year, each council member estimates important topics for 2020 including the November election when a new mayor and City Council members will be elected and finding solutions for short-term rentals.

Suzanne Klapp

•Looking back on 2019, how do you feel about what City Council accomplished over the past 12 months?

The council had numerous important accomplishments this year. We gained valuable input from citizens and consensus from the entire council on 58 capital improvement projects to be funded by $319 million general obligation bonds. All questions related to these projects passed by the voters overwhelmingly. The council continued to help keep taxes low and property values high. We worked collaboratively with the community to approve large development projects – Papago Plaza on McDowell Road and Museum Square near Main Street in Old Town. Work began on a major renovation of Scottsdale Stadium that will be available for Spring Training 2020.

•As 2020 nears, what are some topics City Council will be looking at in the new calendar year?

Planning and prioritization for beginning construction of capital projects approved in 2019 will be a major focus. The long-range public process for updating the city’s General Plan will make its way through the planning department, citizen meetings, the Planning Commission and will ultimately be brought to the City Council in the 2020-21 fiscal year. Discussions will begin among city transportation planners, the Transportation Commission and the council on an extension of Maricopa County’s Proposition 400 transportation sales tax. The current 20-year Regional Transportation Plan and associated tax expires at the end of calendar year 2025.

•What will be the No. 1 issue/topic Scottsdale residents should know about for the upcoming year?

2020 is an election year for Mayor and City Council. Mayor Jim Lane’s and my City Council terms are limited to the end of 2020. Some candidates have filed committees for a council seat and more candidates are planning to file for council and mayor early in 2020. Mayor Lane has been a full-time mayor and a great steward for the city. Transitioning to a new mayor and council will be fully discussed and debated throughout the year.

Virginia Korte

•Looking back on 2019, how do you feel about what City Council accomplished over the past 12 months?

While I feel we can always do more to make Scottsdale even better, the council’s unanimous support of the $319 bond proposal played an important part in voters’ overwhelming approval of all three bond questions. We worked closely with citizens to learn what they believe the city needs. That collaboration will now pay significant dividends for citizens and our city.

As a long-time supporter of education, I was grateful when voters also supported the SUSD budget override. Renewing the override will not only maintain quality schools, it will contribute to attracting and retaining businesses that create jobs for our residents.

•As 2020 nears, what are some topics City Council will be looking at in the new calendar year?

We will be discussing many issues next year, but none more important than the best way to move forward in addressing the next generation of our city’s general plan. It’s critical that we create a transparent process that allows community wide input from citizens. Learning from past experiences, citizens must be able to trust the process.

•What will be the No. 1 issue/topic Scottsdale residents should know about for the upcoming year?

One of my top priorities in 2020 will be continuing to be fiscally responsible and building our economy while carefully managing our growth, including ensuring that any new developments add value to our residents’ quality of life.

Jim Lane

•Looking back on 2019, how do you feel about what City Council accomplished over the past 12 months?

In view of a disruptive and contentious 2018 council candidate and ballot proposition 420 campaign (Charter amendment re: a public vote requirement for any building on the Preserve land), the council working together to re-work and reconsider some private land development projects in downtown were important accomplishments. Also to have voters’ trust recover sufficiently, to bring the Council first, and then the voters to agreement on the city’s capital improvements project (CIP) priorities for an overwhelming 2019 CIP bond initiative win, was a major accomplishment for Scottsdale. It represented a huge recovery and advancement in our community communications, trust and vision for Scottsdale’s future.

•As 2020 nears, what are some topics City Council will be looking at in the new calendar year?

We will continue to improve city governance and administrative efficiencies through greater communication, transparency and accountability. We will effectively and judiciously utilized the bond authorized funding for our prioritized capital projects as presented to the voters to bring our Scottsdale infrastructure back to Scottsdale standards.

We will work with the Arizona Legislature and the governor to address the negative impacts the short-term Rentals have on neighborhoods. We will continue to work with the region (MAG, AMWUA and the Tribal communities) and the State on drought contingency planning and water efficiencies.

•What will be the No. 1 issue/topic Scottsdale residents should know about for the upcoming year?

The No. 1 issue for Scottsdale in 2020 will be our 2020 election. An effort to reverse the creation of our strong diversified economic engine will be seen in some city campaigns. It may present a challenge to our city’s future sustainability and resilience.

Kathy Littlefield

•Looking back on 2019, how do you feel about what City Council accomplished over the past 12 months?

I think the biggest accomplishment was the formulation by the Bond Subcommittee, vote by council, and approval by citizens, of the bond package. The bond package was created by the Bond Subcommittee (Guy Phillips, Suzanne Klapp, and myself) along with staff, the rest of the council, and citizen input over the course of months. By listening to the citizens, listening to the staff and their insights, formulating questions, and getting input from council, we put together the most critical needs of the city --- along with a few “wants” ---- to create a package our citizens approved by overwhelming majorities throughout all of Scottsdale. I believe our city will be better for building these projects.

•As 2020 nears, what are some topics City Council will be looking at in the new calendar year?

Development, development and development. The biggest question the council faces is what do we and our citizens want our city to become over the next few years? The developers, of course, want to develop. With a city as land-locked as Scottsdale, that mainly means to either re-develop in areas that are not currently highly or densely developed, or to develop current open spaces to bring more density and height into those areas, or just to build up.

Many Scottsdale residents throughout all of Scottsdale do not want to see that happen, and therein lies the conflict. We are known for our Preserve, dark skies, horse properties and western flavor. There have been and currently are many attempts to de-rail that flavor. Personally, I do not see why modern technologies and a western heritage cannot go hand-in-hand, but where the lines are drawn is where the conflicts are fought.

•What will be the No. 1 issue/topic Scottsdale residents should know about for the upcoming year?

I cannot tell you what the future holds or what or where future conflicts may occur. Right now, however, the biggest conflict is the Old Town area of downtown. Businesses in Old Town feel threatened with extinction by the plans for a new SouthBridge II redevelopment of the area along the canal and along 5th Ave. Citizens across the city have united and formed a committee for the purpose of saving our Old Town Scottsdale as a tourism and historical venue and to have a say in how our City will develop, particularly in that area.

To accomplish this, they are trying to collect 14,000 petition signatures by Jan. 3. As I watch this happening once again in Scottsdale --- as it did just a couple of years ago with the citizen-driven Preserve protection movement --- I am heartened that our citizens throughout Scottsdale care enough about our city to act in its behalf, wherever they see danger to our city’s future. Personally, I hope Old Town can be saved – it is a unique, iconic area of Scottsdale to which both our tourists and residents love to go. If it cannot, however, then Scottsdale is the loser for its loss. As Laurie Roberts wrote in her opinion piece: we will be “trading cache’ for cash.” And, that cache’ will never come back.

Linda Milhaven

•Looking back on 2019, how do you feel about what City Council accomplished over the past 12 months?

I am proud. Most importantly, we unanimously approved a bond package that met the critical needs of our community and, working together in support, the bond passed.

We also made strides to support the economic vitality of south Scottsdale. Several zoning cases from McDowell Road to the Camelback Road will revitalize these areas. New office space and new residents will create vibrancy and prosperity.

•As 2020 nears, what are some topics City Council will be looking at in the new calendar year?

Short term rentals are having a negative impact on our neighborhoods. We should continue to lobby the state legislature for stricter rules while we continue to identify other ways we can reduce the impact on neighborhoods.
Development in our community is an ongoing issue. The open desert along the 101 west of Pima Road is state trust land that is already zoned for commercial development. As the state looks at selling this land, we must insure we have high quality development in this area.

Westworld can do better and reduce the operating deficits that drain the General Fund. We need to complete the strategic plan to maximize revenues and community impact while covering expenses.

Guy Phillips

•Looking back on 2019, how do you feel about what City Council accomplished over the past 12 months?

I think our biggest accomplishment was getting Bond 2019 passed. It really was a combined effort of residents, staff and the council coming together to make a bond that is practical, transparent and deals with critical infrastructure.

•As 2020 nears, what are some topics City Council will be looking at in the new calendar year?

We will be addressing the bond package to start with the most pressing projects and their order so that it is implemented over time and will not put a large sum on the property tax all at once. We will also be meeting to discuss parking and parking garages and the fate of the scooters. The next budget cycle will also be a prominent part of our meetings.

•What will be the No. 1 issue/topic Scottsdale residents should know about for the upcoming year?

The bond package implementation will certainly be a topic of discussion but it could be overshadowed by unbridled development downtown which could threaten our Old Town cache. Of course the next election is going to be controversial as two council members run for mayor and leave two open council seats.

Solange Whitehead

•Looking back on 2019, how do you feel about what Council accomplished over the past 12 months?

The most important accomplishment, in my opinion, is that community priorities are increasingly driving city policies and council votes.

As constituent influence has increased so has public trust, which enabled many of the year’s successes. Most visibly, voters approved a bond package allowing for major investments in the city. For the first time in a decade, there is a palpable shift in development. From north to south, developers are scaling back height and density requests while offering up far more community benefits such as pocket parks, design upgrades, and public parking. This year also resulted in a nuisance ordinance giving staff new power to tackle bad actor, short-term rental operators, Preserve land acquisition on the agenda, and trees have been protected --- all thanks to Scottsdale’s caring and engaged residents.

•As 2020 nears, what are some topics City Council will be looking at in the new calendar year?

Development continues to spark anger and limit trust in the city government. For instance, it should be easy to review the “community benefits” that balance requested bonuses on heights. This will improve outcomes and increase public trust. I will continue to work with neighborhood groups on issues affecting their communities and push for citizen involvement in developing the new General Plan. 2020 also marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. I am working on projects that double down on “green” --- cents & sense --- by protecting public dollars and our environment. Other priorities include curbing the disruption caused by short-term rentals, participating in regional efforts to improve affordability in Scottsdale and the Valley, and staying involved in bond project decisions.

•What will be the No. 1 issue/topic Scottsdale residents should know about for the upcoming year?

With the passage of the bonds and the nuisance ordinance, the City Council must now deliver results.