By this time on Wednesday, regardless of the outcome, there will most likely be gnashing of teeth and tearing of clothes by both the supporters and detractors of the general plan election.
I suspect that the measure will not pass.
The results of the election are in question because there has been so much virulent dialogue on social media and in this newspaper by both sides of the issue.
The no growth advocates fear that the general plan, as written, will encourage more density and height while many on the other side, such as myself, do not wish to support a plan which the advocates for the plan on the city council (think Janik; Ortega and Whithead) have already shown that they have no intention of following the guidelines that the general plan proposes. I for one, cannot support or condone their hypocrisy and voted no.
By example, take the proposed apartments on 92nd and Shea next to the HonorHealth 60-plus-acre medical campus. In the revised general plan, this specific location is identified as a growth area allowing for just this sort of use.
Yet, in spite of the support of over 80 groups and individuals, who wrote letters of support (to include HonorHealth as well as the Scottsdale Ranch and McCormick Ranch HOA’s) this same group of council members blocked the project bowing to a few homeowner’s who did everything that they could do to keep “those people” out of their neighborhood.
Solange Whitehead originally supported the plan but folded like a cheap suit when attacked by her no-growth support group.
The end result of all of this perfidy and bad leadership by the city council is a broken electorate and probably no general plan update. To say nothing about the hospital workers and first responders denied a high-quality place to live in the city where they work.
Every study on the subject proves that Scottsdale badly needs more apartments — a severe lack of local area options show that the 92nd street location is the perfect place for these proposed projects.
I for one, fear that the time is not far away when Scottsdale will be sued for its disregard and flagrant lack of desire to create an inclusive city over its continued lack of support for multifamily homes.
In 1981, under the Fair Housing Act, the town of Huntington, New York, was sued over its refusal to allow multi-family housing to be built in a section of town that was, like Scottsdale, predominantly white and zoned for single-family homes.
In 1988, the plaintiff won their lawsuit, proving that Huntington not only implemented a policy with a racially discriminatory effect that would have “significantly perpetuated segregation” but also that the alleged reasons for doing so — traffic, parking, and fire problems, and inadequate play areas, among others — were “weak justifications.” Sound familiar?
Editor’s Note: Larry Kush is a former six year member of the Scottsdale Planning Commission; a 45 year Scottsdale resident and lifelong advocate of fair housing.
