Miller: Resort projects new or remodel are a big deal for Paradise Valley

There are a number of resort development projects that are coming to our town including the Smoke Tree Resort (new), Scottsdale Plaza Resort ($150 million redevelopment), Andaz Scottsdale Resort (redevelopment and expansion), El Chorro (new) and the Ritz has land left to develop.

As a resident, I am concerned about how these big money projects are going to impact PV, regardless of whether it is a new resort, or the redevelopment of an existing resort. Both need equal scrutiny from our town’s council to ensure we do not change the character of our small, unique community.

In 2019, an existing PV resort wanted to make one of its rental houses a five-unit party venue with a 24-foot high rooftop bar (think short-term party rental Airbnbs) directly adjacent to a single family home. At the time of their application, the resort had a buffer of a single family rental home on their property — and that is what the resort wanted to change into a five unit rental with a rooftop bar.

Their application to create this permanent party/event venue, without a buffer, moved forward on a 4 to 3 council vote: three council members and the current mayor voted to move it forward.

They did this without including explicit language to require the buffer of a single family home between the homeowner and the proposed resort party house.

The resort eventually withdrew its request because of strong neighborhood opposition. But honestly, how would you like to have been that homeowner living with the uncertainty of the outcome and what do you think approval of the resort’s application would have done to their home’s value?

The lesson here is that remodeling an existing resort can potentially have as deleterious an impact on our neighborhoods as a new resort can.

I think it’s fair to say most PV residents want the certainty that this won’t and can’t happen to them or to their neighbors, whose homes are near these resort developments. Protecting all the residents in our community from the intrusion of commercial activity means there should always be a required buffer to protect existing, single family homeowners from any adjacent resort developments.

Some of the biggest policy differences in this election are between candidates who are preservation-oriented and those who are more pro-development. Both are well intentioned, but with differing viewpoints and different consequences for our neighborhoods.

Personally, I came here for the quiet, low key, upscale lifestyle this community offers. If you feel the same way, let’s make sure we have elected officials who are looking at new and remodeled resort projects very carefully, as both can have big impacts on our neighborhoods.