City Council | Regular Meeting and Work Study - February 18, 2025

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I now call the February 18th 2025 city
council regular meeting and work study
session to order clerk Ben Lane please
conduct our roll call thank you mayor
mayor Lisa barowski present vice mayor
jany boscus present council members
Barry Graham Pres
Adam quman present Kathy Littlefield
present Marian McCallen present and
Salange Whitehead here interm city
manager Greg kton present City attorney
Sherry Scott present City treasur Sony
Andrews here acting City auditor Lake CL
here and the clerk is present thank you
mayor thank you tonight we have uh
Scottdale police officer Josh Bayfield
and detective Dustin Patrick as well as
firefighter Emma Hayden in in the event
anyone needs special assistance please
let us or any member of the staff know
uh I'd like to ask councilman Adam
quasman to help us with the Pledge of
Allegiance or I should say lead
us States
thank you and councilwoman Whitehead
would you like to touch on the
invocation sure I guess I would ask
everybody here to join us in a moment of
silence and to take consideration of the
war zones around the world that are
happening right now thank you
thank
you thank you as in for the mayor's
report this evening I'd like to invite
all of you all of the community to
attend or watch live uh the state of the
city address which will occur at the
Scottdale princess resort beginning at
8:00 a.m. on Wednesday February the 26th
and for those of you who can't attend in
person we will have that on Channel 11
so please uh tune in and we'll see you
there hopefully presentations tonight we
have a presentation regarding an update
from the Scottdale Railroad and
mechanical Society presenting tonight is
William Scarboro Scottdale rail railroad
and mechanical Society board president
as a reminder the city council will make
will not make comments or ask questions
of this
presenter uh however no action will be
taken at this time thank you and welcome
thank you mayor vice mayor and councel
uh my name is William Scaro uh scell
resident uh I am uh currently the board
president for the sca railroad
mechanical
Society I apologize I'm used to being on
the other side of this so I'll try to
work through these slides as best I can
uh yeah I apologize let me get a little
bit closer to the mic I apologize for
that uh I wanted to provide the the
council and the general public a little
bit of the history of the society it was
chartered in 1971 by Guy Stillman uh
interestingly enough four years prior to
the Park's opening our first board
meeting was in 1972 And as we know this
is our 50th year our golden jubilee
anniversary of the park uh so we'll be
celebrating it this year again it opened
in October of
75 a little history or recent history
for the board uh in
2011 in January we opened the model
railroad building that model railroad
building uh through collaboration of uh
stakeholders in the area and ourselves
we were able to completely build that
$3.2 million Project without City
funds um in 2013 the society was
inducted into the scotdale history Hall
of Fame
just looking back since 2010 our board
has uh contributed financially to the
park of $5.8
million uh of which is part of our uh
the play structure for the new
roundhouse building that'll be coming
this
summer and just a little bit of history
for last year because we'd like to sort
of do a year uh what happened last year
and what we're expecting for this year
in 2024 we had 430,000 people ride the
train that's a pretty impressive number
I think it's amazing uh we had a number
of special events uh we had Rhythm at
the rails Spring Concert which we had
over 1,700 people uh participate we had
2,000 people participate in the
exclusively little Expo we had 125
campsites for tents by the tracks if you
haven't done that with your family I
highly recommend it uh we had over
10,000 uh participate in the summer
concert series that we hold each summer
uh 1,500 for the red white and Choo 600
for SL Slide the
rails uh whopping 20,000 for spook
tracula and over 40,000 for holiday
lights so this year our Jubilee year uh
is a very special year for us and the
the park staff have gone out of their
way to make every month special one of
the engines they've already wrapped in
gold and they're coming up with a lot
more special events each month but just
to highlight in February they
participated in the pradel soul to get
the word out in March we have the Rhythm
and rails and exclusively little Expo
happening again in April we start with a
tin by the tracks and then uh we'll
start with the tracks and tunes concert
series which will roll into may as well
June we anticipate having the splash pad
open and this is just in time for the
summer and long overdue this project has
been something we've been working on for
quite some time and I cannot wait to see
that Splash Pad open following June uh
right after we're hoping to begin
beginning of July we're going to have
the roundhouse grand opening and just
for those who aren't aware that that
roundhouse is housing a play structure
that is multi-level for kids to play in
uh it is train themed it's going to be a
steam engine with a Tinder uh kids will
be able to play on all multiple levels
even the Smoke Stack that goes above the
train will be a net maze from the playin
it's going to be
spectacular uh in October we're going to
celebrate the golden jubilee uh the the
society will be putting on an
appreciation event then for the 50th
anniversary and we'll start with our
spook tracula in December we'll have
holiday lights and then uh for the
second year we'll be doing noon Year's
Eve which is a special little event to
celebrate New Years but in the middle of
the
day uh and then just to do a little
highlight again the The Roundhouse
project has been uh consuming a lot of
our time to make sure it comes off just
right for the city of Scottdale uh you
can see a depiction here uh
uh rendering of what it'll look like
this structure is magnificent and huge
I've gone down twice to uh the facility
that's being built in Tucson it's being
built by a team called creative machines
and it is
enormous uh the outdoor Splash Pad will
be part of it and uh just as a reminder
we are adding additional shade and shade
trees uh just to help people around the
splash pad area and just around the park
in
general uh that's all I have for right
now uh just want to make sure you we all
knew what was going on in 24 and 25 and
if there are any questions uh from the
council I'd be happy to answer and we
also have uh Park staff here if there's
any questions that Park can answer for
you thank you Mr Scarboro we also have a
couple of comments or questions
councilwoman
McAllen thank you mayor um thank you for
this presentation I'm very excited I was
on the Parks and Recreation Commission
when we voted on this I just wanted to
make the comment that this play uh
structure inside the building has
features that are handicap accessible to
children in wheelchairs and that is very
important to the city so I just want to
make sure everyone realizes it's ADA
Compliant thank you for that and you are
correct uh there's uh features that help
with lights and uh as far as
accessibility on the ground floor so we
try to uh uh capture as many of the uh
disabilities as we can for amenities
with this train thank you thank you vice
mayor dequez
thank you Mr Scarboro um thank you for
the tour last week I was so excited to
see everything that's going on at the
the railroad park my girls love the
Railroad Park every time we go there
it's a it's always an adventure so I
appreciate the investment the time um
and a volunteer uh role that you have
and the the members that you bring to
the table but also the consistency that
this brings to our community you were
telling me that um this gets
international notoriety could you talk a
little bit more about who comes to the
Train park because I think that's very
impressive as well so thank you for your
work oh absolutely uh I may possibly
have Stephanie come down and provide
some additional detail but I can tell
you uh based on uh tracking that the
park has done that that 70% of the
attendance is from individuals outside
of Scottsdale how that breaks out
internationally uh we do have
international visitors uh but hopefully
maybe Stephanie can provide a little
insight on that but I'm I'm not sure how
much detail and if she can't we'll make
sure to get you that information
good evening mayor Browski um council
members I don't have an exact number of
how many visitors come from
international waters but we do use
Placer AI to track that data so I'm
happy to provide you with our last
year's report um via email after this
meeting thank you thank you for what
you're doing appreciate it
thank you as well thank you for the
wonderful presentation and your efforts
out there great job appreciate it thank
you so
much special executive uh meeting
announcement during tonight's meeting
like all meetings all regularly
scheduled meetings the council May uh
engage in a motion to recess into
executive session in the event it needs
to obtain legal advice on any applicable
item on the
agenda turning to First public comment
announcement public comment now is
during this period of time is reserved
for Scottdale citizens business owners
and or Property Owners to comment on
non- agendized items that are within the
council's jurisdiction no official
Council action can be taken on these
items and speakers are limited to three
minutes in order to address them if you
wish to speak on a non- agendized item
or an agenda topic please see uh clerk
Ben Lane and I see we have uh five
speakers that have signed up to talk
starting with uh Harold back followed by
Laura Schwarz Dan ISAC you can start
making your way toward the
podium and then lastly Brittany brto and
Linda milhaven
good evening mayor city councilors thank
you very much for taking the time to
listen to us um we formed an
organization several years ago called
the 68th Street sidewalk Association
primarily to deal with the development
of a sidewalk from Indian band to I mean
from Indian School excuse me to um
Camelback Road along 68th Street and if
you would bear with me I have a
presentation that I will play to you off
of my computer it's the words that I
wrote speech on empty
line page one of6 body 68 Street
sidewalk Association address to
Scottdale city council ladies and
gentlemen we want to congratulate you
all for your recent success in the
November elections and wish you every
success in completing the tasks and
duties your office will be presented
with our community is strong and
deserves the finest and most Visionary
leadership to steer our community
towards a future that represents the
finest our city has to offer it is also
timely that we acquaint this body of a
project working its way through the
administrative and development process
to getting completed in large part we
hope to ensure your Contin support and
to help you to fundamentally understand
this community-driven project and its
importance to our neighborhood and our
city this is a project of Public Safety
access to people who are challenged with
disabilities and to ensure the
surrounding neighborhood the ability to
integrate with and connect with all the
historic infrastructure the city has
already invested in forgive me but I
would like to start at the very
beginning to make sure we all understand
its Genesis and how we got to a place of
having broad community support and the
support of the leadership of the city
council and staff within the city I
finished blind school and being proud to
be able to navigate the use of public
transportation I took the bus getting
off at Indian School in 68th Street
assuming a simple walk to my home at
68th Street and Camelback Road I crossed
the street walked over the bridge and
crossed over the small Street and
thinking there was a sidewalk I was
confronted with the fact that there was
none I edged to the side of the dirt to
the black top and started the walk
northward I cannot easily articulate the
absolute fear I felt and experienced as
I heard cars speeding towards me and
sometimes they were close enough that I
could touch them I challenge each and
every one of you to walk that walk with
me anytime to experience the intensity
of that Terror call upon me anytime
bring every bit of your courage with you
and let us walk this is not about me
alone I later met people who were in
wheelchairs who traveled at rude parents
with strollers joggers bikers workers
going to work at the mall or head at
home families children all of them
enduring the great risk of bodily harm
to reach the walkway along the canal or
to walk from south of Indian School up
to the mall or from the mall to the
Valley Ho or to take the Camel Back Road
bus or the Indian School Bus all of
these people signed a petition imploring
the city to do something to finish a
piece of infrastructure that would
improve everyone's life strengthen the
neighborhood and the quality of life in
the area during our efforts in
collecting signatures and support the
tragic death of Judge moras struck by a
vehicle at 52nd Street then Camelback
reinforced to everyone involved the
gravity and clear and present danger
people are placed in when walking this
small stretch of road vehical speed and
weekend racing and shenanigans are well
documented it takes vision and
Leadership to do the right thing it
takes strength and fortitude to stand up
for what is correct the citizens of our
community have elected you to do just
that to take care of the business of the
city taking care of the citizens of our
city whether they live north or south we
have entrusted our future to you text
field body we ask you to please continue
the work of this important citizen
driven project complete the 68th Street
sidewalk keep our city and its citizens
safe we trust that you will honor that
Duty in this project and other projects
in the city that have been brought
forward by the community and our
citizens we are happy to answer any
questions you may have and will do what
is needed to complete this extraordinary
undertaking thank you very much thank
you I apologize for going little over
time but thank you for your Indulgence
you're fine thank you very much we very
much appreciate your
input okay hi I'm Laura Schwarz okay
you're next on my list perfect I'm the
other half of the 68 Street sidewalk
Association at least the the uh the two
people that went out and collected all
those signatures and helped walk this
through the process of the through the
transportation department and the city
council to see that this project ended
up to be um part of the capital
Improvement
plan I wanted to add to what Harold said
in that an observation that I have
noticed in the last few months we
have the shared
bird scooters and and um a popularity of
using electric bikes which are moving at
extraordinary speeds and from my house
off of 68th Street I see them zipping by
luckily I have not been walking in the
bike lane when these people are speeding
through the bike lane the um and I am
here to just remind you that the urgency
of this 68th Street sidewalk
construction is has not gone away we
absolutely must get that done so that
there are no tragic accidents coming
from the uh lack of infrastructure on 68
streight thank you thank you thank you
very much Dan ISAC followed by Britney
brdo and then Linda
milhaven Dan Isaac address on record uh
two quick topics tonight first if I had
some more of my comments about your Dei
and elimination since comments were
limited to one minute in the last
meeting a couple points worth amplifying
especially given the false information
that's out there first the city did not
have any preferences or quotas based on
demographic information qualifications
and Merit were the factors for hiring
and promotion there were no equity goals
within the city education and tolerance
were some of the goals of the diversity
office last week I mentioned that some
people might not understand why
observant Jews wear a kipa or understand
that chabas might potentially require
them to leave early on Friday or why a
Muslim woman might wear a hijab or why a
Catholic might have ashes on his or her
forehead on March 5th or why an
immigrant might celebrate their birth
nation's Independence
Day understanding lessons ignorance
which lessens discrimination but you did
away with that our diversity office
worked with other departments to ensure
all residents and visitors feel welcome
in Scottdale many businesses and
organizations whether One Believes it to
be right or wrong require tourist
destinations to demonstrate a welcoming
atmosphere this could be through a
diversity office an ndo or PR materials
that demonstrate
heterogeneity our city revenues are
highly dependent on tourism to risk even
a portion of that Revenue by eliminating
our diversity office was
Reckless Mr quasman as I mentioned last
meeting words matter you need to stop
using inflammatory words and dog
whistles it is shameful from anyone but
particularly from someone in an
oppressed group and lastly does anyone
else find it ironic that this Council
voted to stop funding any diversity
programs for City staff and PR purposes
but is going to approve $48,000 for the
Persian Festival in March it's a lot of
money for a single ethnicity I support
that expenditure but it seems contrary
to what you you all
believe for my second item I'd like to
play make any money with business before
Council or someone that you could
reasonbly to have business before
Council one of the first actions that I
will take is to adjust our ordinance
right now the gift ordinance says that
they can't take gifts from people I
believe that gifts are also campaign
donations nobody should be taking
campaign donations from someone who has
business before Council it's a conflict
of interest and it doesn't represent you
my campaign
takes so that's Miss ducus at an LD
meeting making a promise I mentioned in
Jan January how Miss deasus violated
that pledge even before she was sworn in
by taking money from developers and
others expected to have business before
the council even worse at the last
meeting you did not recuse yourself on
voting for the parking structure design
despite the primary champion of this
effort being Bob pedman a business owner
who believes his lack of sales is
because of parking Mr pedman contributed
to your campaign and to others yet you
all voted for it isn't that the very
conflict of interest you campaigned
against or are you just another
politician
that says whatever is necessary to get
elected and it's time that we stop
corporate welfare from the
city thank you Mr Isaac Britney
brto all right thank you for your time
um as an a transplant I always admire
the Green Space tree canopy and walk
abilities Scot still has to offer
similar to my hometown in Maryland as
someone who worked full-time while
obtaining their master degree master's
degree at ASU I I commuted between Tempe
Phoenix and Scottdale and realized the
DraStic differences in the streets and
overall landscape as I community Through
the those three cities as a global
Futures Alum and now a Scottdale
resident I was informed the work and
dedication put into the Scottdale
sustainability plan was rejected here to
express at this importance to resend
that notion we all experien experienced
extreme heat temp all the way into
October this past year even though
sustainability is more than just heat um
it's all I really have in three minutes
really explain but the quality of our
environment has effects on our overall
well well-being mental physical and
spiritual levels um please consider to
implement some of if not all of the
sustainability plan options that took
three years to reach approval in
December and just uphold the elite
status scale holds itself to that's it
thank you very much Linda Mill
Haven good evening excuse me Linda
milhaven I live on Belgian Trail I've
often heard many of you speak about the
need for government to be open and
transparent I agree but you failed to
meet this test last week by passing the
ordinance eliminating the office of
diversity there was no Outreach for
Resident input there was no staff
presentation and it was erroneously
asserted that Scott still was using
discriminatory hiring practices all also
the the ordinance reads the use of City
funds for Dei shall discontinue this
sentence is vague and is leading to
confusion did you mean all programs
impacted by the office of diversity I
understand the mayor's office is moving
forward with the mayor's ability Awards
which provide scholarships and which
according to the city's website
underscores the importance of
encouraging education and fostering
inclusivity to students living with
disabilities it was supported by the
office of diversity I applaud the mayor
for moving forward with this program but
it could arguably contradict the
ordinance passed last week if not all
programs are to be eliminated which ones
are you keeping and which ones are you
eliminating did you mean other programs
throughout the city is there to be a
hunt throughout the city for other Dei
programs council member quasman seems to
think that the ordinance passed gives
him permission to censor library
programs the Arizona Republic reported
his concerns about Scottdale for all
story time the January session was a
braille Story Time February recognized
Black History Month and March is geared
toward autism spectrum audiences city
council does not have the authority to
interpret how an ordinance is
implemented the city Charter section two
article two section 16 deals with
interactions with employees and reads
the council and its members May interact
with such employees for the purpose of
inquiries however neither the council
any of its members nor any of its
members shall give orders to any such
employees either publicly or privately
in short this means you do not execute
policy as the city council you pass an
ordinance and the staff interprets and
implements the ordinance your ordinance
is vague and creating confusion please C
clarify the ordinance to provide staff
with clear Direction on what criteria
they should use to decide what gets
funded and does not get
funded the charter also tells you that
you cannot direct Charter officers to
reprimand someone who interprets the
ordinance in a way you disagree and to
that end clarifying the ordinance will
help staff and help you achieve your
ends your ordinance needs clarification
please agendize an item to elaborate the
criteria that should be used to
interpret the sentence the use of City
funds for Dei shall discontinue thank
you thank you very much that concludes
uh non- agendized public comment and
next we move on to approval of the me
meeting minutes for special meeting
meeting January 28th 2025 executive
session minutes January 28th 2025 and
regular meeting minutes uh January
28th anyone have a motion for me so
moved second all those in favor of
minute appro minutes approval please
indicate your
vote thank you
moving on to the consent agenda items
next we have consent agenda items 1
through
14 uh I'm going to ask if any members
have any questions on any of the uh
consent agenda items and if so uh a
request you can also make a request to
move any of the consent agenda items to
the regular agenda and I am going to ask
that item number seven be removed does
anyone have any questions or actually I
do have questions on that and then I'll
ask um before I do that Council woman
Mallen thank you mayor um actually I was
going to ask uh that item number seven
be removed also so thank
you so my question about consent agenda
item number seven do we have anyone here
that can give us a presentation on this
item if yes Madam I we do if not I I'd
even prefer to move it uh to the next
regular agenda item Madame mayor and
members of council it's entirely up to
your
preference I'm inclined to move that uh
make a motion to move that off the
consent agenda to a future
meeting anyone want to second that
second so at this time uh before we
approve the consent agenda items I'd
like to uh have a vote on moving item
number seven to a future meeting and
removing it from the consent agenda
Madame mayor I oh I sorry I have to hit
this request to speak go ah go right
ahead just thank you Madame mayor I
apologize for the interruption we are
just getting word we may have some uh
cont contractual dates uh where we're
running up to that time frame if it
pleases the mayor and the council if we
maybe can just um take this item up a
little bit later while we do research
over the next 30 minutes to understand
that time frame thank you madam mayor
that sounds good so we'll pull with that
let's uh remove that from the consent
agenda let's take a vote on that one
since there's been a second on on that
oh and I don't think we need a v a vote
actually no vote no vote yeah thank you
councilman Graham thank
you did you want to speak yes please
okay go ahead um I wanted to ask just a
question about a consent agenda item
without pulling it from the consent
agenda sure item number 13 this would be
for Kevin Rose interim Water Resources
executive
director there he
is so I don't favor to uh withdraw this
from the consent agenda but uh Mr Rose
if you could just mention we're raising
rates um is this for can you just for
the body public who are who are we
raising rates on and is the rate of
increase um how does the rate of
increase compared to recent history
thank you uh thank you uh councilman
Graham uh mayor vice mayor and Council
what we're going to be requesting
tonight is for notice of intent to start
the process to raise Water and Sewer
rates uh we are looking to raise water
rates 4 and a half% and Sewer rates by
6% uh that's been in line in past
practice within 3 to 5% that we have
been raising the water and
sewer and if you heard I don't know if
you heard my other question but on whom
are we raising rates this would be for
General customers the residents and the
commercial businesses all rate payers
yes um I know recently we kind of
withheld from raising rates on U people
that use you know the lowest amount of
water we have tiered water structure so
is this be a flat increase or how would
you how would you characterize this type
of rate increase thank you thank you uh
councilman Graham uh mayor vice mayor
and Council we will be doing a base rate
increase on based on the water meter
which would also affect the sewer
because we base the sewer on 90% of your
water usage in the three low months okay
and uh you feel it's uh absolutely
essential to raise rates at 4.5% for
this year for the uh Financial Health of
the Enterprise
fund councilman Graham mayor vice mayor
and councel yes I do believe we need to
do this thank you
mayor thank you thank you very much at
this time I'd like to uh open it up for
public comment there is one uh
individual who has indicated uh desire
to speak and that is Brian Scott and
this is on the consent agenda
items hi there mayor and Council good
evening Brian Scott
resident I'm here to voice my concerns
regarding the Persian New Year's
Festival funding requests under consent
agenda number 12 I'm troubled by several
issues that raise serious questions
about the event eligibility first the
event does not meet the required event
development guidelines one of the
stipulations for receiving funding is
that the event must span at least two
consecutive days however the event lists
three non-consecutive days in the media
kit list only March 1st one day second
the festival appears to be requesting
funding for fourth year which exceeds
the maximum three-year funding limit
outlined in the
guideline another key issue is the
funding guidelines require the event to
be open to the general public but
tickets are being sold for this event is
the funding being used to cover venue
costs and make the event free to the
public this ambiguity makes it difficult
to understand how taxpayer dollars are
being
allocated the funding request of
$4,125 also seems unclear and the
breakdown of the number is difficult to
follow leading to concerns about
transparency the event says it draws
15,000 annually however the Civic Center
newly enlarged capacity is
7500 funding based upon exaggerated
attendance seems ripe for
abuse finally the event is supposed to
contribute POS positively to the city's
brand in
image however I've observed Iranian
activists using the City events and
beautiful Scottsdale landmarks as
backdrops for protests involving
dramatic displays such as laying on the
ground of fake blood or waving Iranian
Flags I am concerned that the headliners
for this event are also Iranian
activists the comedian headliner for
this event is very political his views
are on many websites he makes it a point
to be an activist quote if you you look
at what is going on with the Maga right
they want less
democracy and to impose their ideologies
in religion on this
country unquote this rhetoric raises
questions about whether this event is a
political
platform what troubles me even more is
that despite these evident concerns five
city employees have signed off on this
funding and I'm disappointed that this
proposal is moving forward without
proper scrutiny especially when it
appears there are significant
discrepancies in the events compliance
guidelines it's critical that we ensure
taxpayer money is being used responsibly
and that we're not inadvertently
supporting events that don't align with
the city's standards or objectives thank
you thank you very much Mr Scott
appreciate
that seeing no more requests to speak on
public comment and no additional request
to speak uh from Council Members I will
now entertain a motion to approve
consent agenda items 1 through 14 with
the exclusion of uh item number seven so
moved second all those in favor please
indicate your vote
you weren't up
here I can go
back okay thank you that uh consent
agenda items are approved as stated Now
we move on to the regular agenda item
number 15 city council will take action
on each item on the regular agenda
please note that item number 16 the
roundabout uh at Scottdale Road and
dynamite was removed at the request of
Staff regular agenda item 15 is a
presentation and discussion on the
reconsideration of the development
review board's December 12th 2024
decision which approved a site plan
landscape plan and building elevations
for an amendment to a previously
approved application d uh 46d 2022 for a
new mixed use development comprised of
12 dwelling units uh and 1564
square fet of commercial floor area on
a. 21 Acre Site with downtown re retail
specialty type one downtown heray uh
zoning presenting this evening on this
topic is Greg Bloomberg principal
planner for our planning department and
there you go Greg go ahead thank you
mayor barowski and council members uh
again Greg Bloomberg uh principal
planner with current planning here to
give you a staff
presentation uh on this this item it
will be followed by an applicant
presentation so the site is located uh
just south of Fifth Avenue on the east
side of parshall way surrounded by other
commercial and residential uh
businesses so I want to give you a
little timeline on this uh back in June
of
23 uh the original proposal by the app
on a single parcel was approved under
46d
2022 uh with a vote of six to
nothing uh in August of 24 the property
owner approached the city about
modifying that proposal to include uh
the parcel to the South and uh the
building design uh of that uh proposal
was very similar to the previous
approval and then on uh December 12th of
24 the development review board approved
that case 46d 2022 number two with a
vote of 5 to one and then on uh January
14th as you already know of this year
city council initiated a review of the
drb
decision can you speak up just a touch
please so there were some concerns
raised at the uh January 14th 2025 uh
city council hearing that I'd like to go
through real quick just to summarize one
was the appropriate Ness of residential
in this area of down of
Oldtown uh I go into more detail in the
memo that you have in front of you but
so I'm just trying to summarize a little
bit here on these slides but the
existing zoning allows for residential
at this location uh and land use and
Zoning are not considerations when it
comes to a development review board case
uh another concern raised was
residential density uh again the
existing zoning allows up to 50 drawing
units per acre on this site the actual
density that they uh got approved was 40
dwelling units per acre and again
density is not a consideration for
development review board
cases another concern raised was the
effect of the project on parking for the
surrounding businesses uh I will note
that the on street parking is public and
time restricted to three hours and uh
none of the on street parking is uh for
exclusive use by any specific property
or
business uh another uh issue raised was
maneuverability in the alley for on-site
parking I will note that the uh the site
design and circulation were approved by
transportation
engineering uh additional right of way
was dedicated as required by code and
there are other projects in Oldtown that
are approved and constructed with very
similar conditions to this
project and just for clarification on
that maneuverability issue I know it's
it's a it's a major issue of concern
conc ER I just wanted to quote the uh
the section of the ordinance that deals
with the design of parking and I'll read
it directly into the record uh the
minimum layout Dimensions established in
table 9106 a and
9106d shall apply to all off street
parking with the exception that parking
access by an alley shall require a
minimum of 10 feet from the back of the
spaces to the center line of the alley
which this project does actually meet
another concern raised was balconies
over the right
RightWay uh I'd like to clarify that the
balconies actually do terminate at the
property line uh the only thing that
does encroach into the right of way is a
shade element uh over the sidewalk and
uh then there was also a concern about
the uh condition of the existing
driveway at the alley I will note that
uh the previous approval 46d 2022
include the stipulation that that
driveway is to be upgrad ated to current
Ada
standards so the previously approved
site plan is at the top of this slide
it's a single parcel and there is
parking proposed off the alley at that
time in
2022 uh when it was ultimately approved
and the alley uh is 16 feet and they
gave us a twoot dedication for a total
half width of 10 ft which is required by
code they came back with that the design
design uh at the bottom of the slide
that incorporates the parcel to the
South additional parking was added uh
but again the alley itself uh did not
change it's 16 feet and there's a twoot
dedication on both alleys on the east
side and on the North
side as far as the building design
itself uh the previously approved
elevations are on the left of this slide
you can see that it's a very narrow
building that was approved back in 201
22 and the revised application showing
this the uh additional parcel being
added the design itself was very similar
but there were some changes to the zero
lot line treatments uh as part of the uh
of the second proposal but It ultimately
received
approval and then just to clarify uh the
stepb back situation uh there's also a
concern raised about massing on the
street uh there are encroachments
allowed into that stepb back the stepb
back line that it's required right now
is a dislocation and it begins 30 feet
above the setback line and goes at a
one:1 ratio uh to the top of the
building uh balconies and balcony covers
or canopies are allowed to encroach into
that step back a total of seven feet so
this graphic basically uh confirms that
the design does meet the ordinance in
terms of massing and step backs and then
again as I pointed out the only thing
that's encroaching beyond the property
line is the uh cover for the
sidewalk that concludes staff's
presentation uh I'll turn it over to the
applicant for their presentation and
then uh staff will be available for any
questions you may
have thank you very much and speaking on
behalf of the applicant is Lauren proper
Potter
remember to lower the mic this time
since I'm a little shorter than some of
the people that speak up here but for
the record my name is Lauren proper
Potter p. box 1833 T Arizona
85280 and I'm here tonight on behalf of
the property owner for the Marshall
living case Greg did a great job kind of
walking through the history of the case
I'll just briefly touch on some stuff
but I know that there are some concerns
that have been raised so in the interest
of time time I think what I'll do
tonight is focus just on those issues to
the extent that any of you would like to
address something that I've skipped over
I'm happy to go back and discuss those
things in Greater detail um but just to
clarify the request this evening this is
a modification to a previously approved
development review case so that was 46d
2022 that was approved unanimously about
a year and a half
ago I think you're all familiar with the
site um but again it's just south of uh
Fifth Avenue and Marshall way on the
east side of the street here it's a it's
a pretty small parcel it's actually two
Parcels here you can see there's an
existing building on one of the parcels
and then a vacant dirt lot that's
adjacent to that
parcel so a few of the things that are
up for discussion for development review
cases building materials compliance with
some of the guiding documents of the
area um but some of the things not for
consideration which I think Greg touched
on density height some of the land use
issues that have previously raised so I
won't get into any of those this evening
um there are a ton of development review
criteria that your code sets forth again
these are items that I think are have
been already discussed in your staff
report um I'm happy to get into each and
every one of them and as much detail as
you'd like but I am limited by time um
and many of these concerns haven't been
raised so to the extent anyone wants to
discuss any of these please let me know
I'm happy to walk through them with you
all um but to discuss the prior approval
so it was a substantially similar
building to what's being proposed today
in terms of the skin we have still four
stories 48 ft uh a very similar amount
of ground floor retail 1329 Square ft
there was uh dwelling units above the so
the retail was on the ground floor so
it's a vertical mixed use building the
building previously was constructed
right on the property line after that
twot alley dedication and there were
seven parking spaces required six
physical spaces were provided on site
and then one additional credit for a
parking space was received for four
secured bicycle parking spaces um so
here's I just I'm a visual person so I
was like to include images for you all
to see here I've highlighted that two
foot alley dedication and then you can
see that the access to those parking
spaces previously was directly off of
the alley so um that'll come up as we
discuss how we think that this amendment
is a big Improvement to what was already
approved here um this is the the design
of the building you can see the
materials here these are essentially the
same materials that are again before you
for this amendment Amendment to the case
um we have some landscape plans here's a
rendering of what the prior approval
looked like so you can see here that it
sits right on that Alleyway and this is
what we're proposing to do today so my
client was able to acquire that vacant
parcel next door these are really small
pieces these are 30 foot wide Parcels
after alley dedication 28 ft wide it's a
very challenging infill site to work but
it's a very unique street with a lot of
small Parcels like this and so we had a
unique opportunity to acquire that piece
and provide an improved version of the
plan and so that's what you see here
today so essentially what's happened the
building just kind of got scaled and it
was spread over into that other lot but
you see substantially the same materials
and
design and you can see where we drew
some inspiration from the surrounding
area so this is one of the properties
that's directly on the west side of
Marshall way some similar materials we
have awnings featuring aluminum uh metal
cladding accents brick construction
here's another building that's just
across the street from us on the west
side of Marshall um you can see that
this is a two-story building it's pretty
contemporary in style that second story
that you see again predominantly
featuring aluminum lot of glazing on
this building and then you see some
consistency see with that brick
construction at the ground level another
building as you walk a little bit
further south on Marshall way this is on
the same side of the street as this
development on the east side again a
pretty contemporary building um it's got
again one of those triangular metal
shade structures similar to what we
feature at our site and then lastly if
you just continue a little bit further
down Marshall way you get to the
beautiful Museum of the west building I
think this is a great example of how you
can have contemporary design that
integrates well within this area so this
is again on Marshall way you can see
that there's neutral tone concrete walls
lots of glazing again very nice look
very clean and then metal cladding
accents on the building so that's what
you see reflected in this design it was
the design that was presented in 2023
and approved and it's the same design
that you're seeing here before you this
evening um at the same material board
here we got rid of there were some uh
kind of prickly pair pink and a pretty
yellow accent color those were removed
and so we're featuring a more muted
palette these are more of those Earth
Tones they're neutral um and those are
what the design guidelines for Oldtown
direct applicants to propose um so one
of the things we we've been working to
improve the plan based on some feedback
that we've received from people and I do
want to just touch on that very briefly
the prior plan um it had 17 required
parking spaces we had 16 physical
parking spaces required here a loading
zone and then a credit for four uh
bicycle spaces that were secured what
we're proposing here today we actually
um modified a little bit of the ground
floor here so we've removed one of the
parking space requirements now we only
require 16 parking spaces we provide 16
parking spaces on this site there is the
additional loading zone space that can
be used we still provide the secured
bicycle parking so on paper this site
Pro provides 18 vehicle parking spaces
but it physically provides 16 spaces and
16 are required so this development
meets all of the required parking
without any special
considerations Greg touched on the Alley
wits and I'll just briefly get into this
because it's something that repeatedly
came up in some of the conversations
that I've had with you all so your
design standard and policy manual sets
forth the widths that are required for
alleys it specifically says that for
uses that AB but non single family
residential uses that alley width is 20
ft the current alley width here 16 ft we
will dedicate the additional two feet on
our side the other two feet someday
comes from the adjacent property
owner again I'm a visual person so I
like to make exhibits that kind of
demonstrate that so here you can see the
16t alley that's in blue the green
portion is that dedication that's going
to happen but one of the major
improvements that we made this time
around with this amendment to the plan
is that we were able to set the building
back in additional 2 feet so there's an
additional twot buffer from this
building to the next adjacent property
owner here so from the center line of
that alley this development has 12 feet
to the nearest back of a parking space
and regarding parking spaces there's
been I think some confusion possibly
about what is actually required here
this is in the zoning ordinance parking
spaces that are accessed from an alley
only require a minimum of 10 ft from the
the back of that parking space to the
center line so this is an exhibit that
the architect prepared for this case
that demonstrates where the center line
of that alley is will'll provide 10 feet
with that dedication again we're
providing more than what's required
we're in excess of the minimum
requirement we're providing 12 feet from
the back of that parking space to the
center line of that
alley and then we just created an
exhibit here that demonstrates just a a
midsize SUV turning radius exhibit at a
5 m hour speed uh this is a standard
engineering document here that
demonstrates there aren't going to be
any conflicts no one's going to be
driving on anyone else's property to
access those parking spaces off of the
alley and I did want to just very
briefly I have a minute and 40 seconds I
promise I won't go over demonstrate a
few adjacent conditions just in the
immediate area with substandard alleys
that have 90 Dee angled parking and I've
not heard of any issues from any of
these people so this is the property
directly to the west of us on the west
side of Marshall 16t alley you can see
here I've highlighted there's some 90°
angled parking this is just directly to
the east of our project it's on an alley
that we also abut it's a 16t alley 90°
parking in multiple locations all up and
down that alley and then directly
adjacent to us there's a substandard
alley here it's only 8T wide at one spot
there's parking located directly off of
that alley that does not meet the eight
the 10- foot requirement but there's
also a portion of that property that
does provide parking that does comply
with that 10- foot required backup so we
do provide a couple public benefits here
with this amendment we're willing to
provide four new additional public
parking spaces with this request we
exceed the building setback requirements
here um and we are also willing to agree
to underground the power polls as part
of this approval this evening um I'm
again I'm happy to walk back and discuss
any of these items with you but I think
I'll stop here with 20 seconds left so
thank you very much thank you and now
we're going to move to public comments
on this agenda item number 15 and I have
uh I don't know a handful of six seven
speakers here um clerk Ben do you said
two people had donated time I see on my
sheet here that uh Cynthia Simonson has
donated to Mike March March who's the
second speaker that has donated time to
Mr
shade thank you mayor uh Dennis Floyd
has donated time to Dewey shotti okay I
don't see him on my list but Dennis all
right he signed up late later I'm gonna
call off the speakers uh in order Dan
Isaac Jose Ramirez Mike March who uh has
the donated time Mike will have five
minutes um and Then followed by Mike
Mike
mule Dan Isaac address on record I'm at
a loss how the little Fields despite
being in office for two decades do not
understand the difference between the
drb the Planning Commission and the city
council even worse they apparently don't
believe in private property rights I'm
not going to go Point by Point
highlighting the false statements or
concerns that the little Fields have
with regard to this project because City
staff has distinctly responded to all of
them in their response even a casual
Observer would conclude that the
concerns were Fabrications Andor gross
misunderstandings of the project and
Zoning law the most ridiculous claim
made in the January meeting by Miss
Littlefield is that this area isn't
meant for
residential apparently the littlefield's
need a refresher on what mixed use means
and it didn't stop them from voting for
Museum Square which is very close the
second most ridiculous claim is that
somehow one land owner has greater
rights to public street parking than
another
for those who didn't read the packet
there's not a single aspect of the drb
submission that violates city laws also
the false concerns raised by the little
fields are predominantly zoning matters
over which the drb has no purview
further the project did not receive any
special zoning right
exceptions the project is within the
allowed zoning with regard to height
setbacks parking access
Etc most
importantly this and residents need to
understand that denying a project that
complies with all standard zoning rules
and guidelines is considered a taking a
dimin dimin uh a diminishment in land
value of private property I refer you to
ARS 12-11 34 which is pretty black and
white these cases have been litigated so
much that governments know not to do it
moreover the Goldwater Institute and
other conservative organizations
participate in these lawsuits because
diminishment of land value violates one
of the most sacred tenants of
conservatives private property owners
have
rights rejecting this plan will expose
the city to a lawsuit in addition to our
Co cost to defend it a betting person
would wager that the city will lose
thereby requiring payment of damages
including their legal costs and economic
impact of the delay don't take my word
for it go into executive session and ask
our City attorney what she
thinks for a group that campaigned
against Reckless spending voting against
this plan is throwing money away so
instead of thumping your chest to say we
win up against a developer which in this
case is a small local business owner use
your heads and accept the plan you can
certainly suggest changes in colors and
Landscaping but littlefield's laundry
list is off limits thank you thank you
Jose Ramirez followed by Mike March
Madame mayor before he gets started may
I have a point of order
please point of order I have a point
what is it I would like to remind those
in the audience when speaking about the
merits of a subject or not to speak
through the chair of this of this
Council and to try to refrain at all if
at all possible about uh singling out
any me single members of the council and
rather speaking to the agenda item at
hand
thank you councilman
quasman Mr
[Music]
Ramirez can uh someone turn on the
projector please thank
you my name is uh Jose Ramirez my
address is 7222 East gy Ranch Road uh in
Scottsville Arizona
85258 I'm here to express my concerns uh
regarding the proposed Marshall living
project
and its potential impact on the
surrounding area including my property
located at uh 7077 to 7087 East Fifth
Avenue which is adjacent to the proposed
project while I support responsible
development that enhances our community
I believe that the project as currently
proposed presents significant challenges
that must be addressed number one the
alley width and parking
accessibility the current alley
configuration including the proposed
ation does not provide sufficient
clearance for vehicles to safely
maneuver in and out of the proposed 90°
parking spaces this inadequate space
could create safety hazards congestion
and accessibility issues for both
current businesses and future tenants it
is imperative that the project
adequately adequately accounts for
proper clearance and vehicle movement to
avoid long-term operational issues this
alley is used daily by delivery trucks
City trash tenants and visitors number
two the loading zone designation a
dedicated loading zone is critical to
Ure ensuring the smooth operation of
surrounding businesses and its
residences The Proposal suggests that
the same space could be used to satisfy
a one-bedroom unit's parking requirement
which is highly impractical if this
shared use approach is allowed it would
render the loading zone unavailable for
actual loading operations leading to
congestion delivery disruptions and
further parking shortages I strongly
urge the council to require dedic ated
loading zone that it's not compromised
by residential parking requirements
number three step back requirements and
building scale the proposed building
design appears to violate the stepb back
requirements which exist to prevent
structures from towering over their
surroundings and to maintain an
architecturally interesting streetcape
the intent of these regulations is to
preserve the character and scale of
Marshal way and allowing this project to
bypass these important guidelines are a
concerning president the project should
be adjusted to comply with these
regulations Number Four Construction
mitigation measures with the project of
this scale is it is essential that a
construction mitigation plan is in place
to minimize disruption to existing
businesses traffic uh
pedestrians and accessibility in the
area uh have any mitigation measures
been outlined to address the potential
traffic
blockages these factors must be
carefully considered in conclusion the
project is proposed uh beam proposes for
a highly visible and iconic location
which is the gateway to the heart of the
Fifth Avenue District the arts district
and the Southbridge District it
represents the tallest building on
Marshal way in the arts district at four
stories and it's important and it's
important that we consider the impact on
the character and pedestrian pedestrian
friendly nature of the area I strongly
urge the city council and mayor to
reconsider the project in its current
form and require revisions that address
these critical issues thank you so much
thank you very
much Mike
March followed by Michael mule and Mike
you'll have five minutes thank
you good evening
mayor good evening mayor good evening C
Council uh I I'd like to share a few
Graphics if it's possible to to have the
access to a camera
um my name just for the record my name
is Mike Burch I'm I'm an architect here
in Scottdale I've been practicing for
over 30 years uh here in Arizona and
around in around the country uh my
office was uh for a long time very close
to right across the street actually from
the subject property so I'm very
familiar with the the area and and the
and the resident we were asked uh back
in December to take a look at the
proposed project and uh share any
concerns which we did at the time and
and I appreciate uh uh the council
hearing hearing this the second time um
uh without getting into too much uh I
know that uh we've already heard an
awful lot about parking and parking
requirement uh this alley uh as Jose
spoke of an awful lot of traffic uh over
a 100 Vehicles a day go down this alley
uh it's not just some uh some small um
minor alley but uh the section that I
think everybody's talking about is the
design
standards section 906 design standards
for public and private onsite uh Ingress
and egress and specifically section 90
uh
9.16b uh which
which states uh minimum layout Dimension
established uh in
916a uh shall apply to all off street
parking areas with the exception of
parking spaces access by an houry
require a minimum of 10 feet it doesn't
say only 10t a minimum of 10 ft and what
that means is the only exception to that
is that the drive aisles uh provide 10t
as opposed to private on-site Drive
aisles that are allowed to be much
narrower uh an example of
that I I show here on-site Drive aisle
parking this this would be similar to
like if you're in a restaurant or
Supermarket or something like that uh if
the drive aisles uh as you can see 45
degree parking 55 degree parking the
center line of those Drive aisles are
closer than 10 ft uh when it comes to an
alley the purpose of this is to provide
additional width for for the alley so
it's 16 foot wide alley 10 foot minimum
tobacco parking you would need to move
that parking over a little bit further
and the reason why we do this is people
like me that drive a big truck or
something to stick out into the Alley
we're not blocking traffic and we're not
blocking the all the vehicles that are
going up and down uh through the area um
kind of it it doesn't negate the fact
that you doesn't say to once you get the
10 foot you can now have 90° parking or
anything like that it it just simply
says you need to have a minimum of 10 ft
to start your parking as your parking as
you can see increases 65 degre 70° 90°
uh the maneuvering clearance required to
get into that into that space increases
as well and this is consistent
interpretation across all jurisdictions
uh City of Phoenix for example requires
26 feet if you're accessing a parking
space from an alley as opposed to 24 ft
on on a private area so uh that's and
enough about the parking I think we've
all talked a lot about that right now uh
additional concerns that we've had with
the project I haven't heard anybody
bring up yet is uh the Fire and Life
Safety I mean my wife was a firefighter
uh this is a four-story project there's
no access to the roof uh the only place
that fire department access can be is in
Marshall way which is the narrow side of
a building um currently the the city of
Scottdale has adopted 2021 international
fire code and a lot of the and uh and
the amendment to go with that and part
of that included is the representative
or the recommended guidelines back in
the appendix which talk about access
apparatus access uh positions like for
example aerial apparatus access ladder
trucks and things this building right
now at four stories and tipe be 5B
construction would be required to have a
ladder access again the only place you
can put that is is in Marshal way so I
think you know we've got a project
exactly like this over in Mesa right now
where U the way we were able to mitigate
that was take the stairwells at the back
into of the property and raiseed those
all the way up to the roof so that the
fire department would have the secondary
meons of erress off of the roof uh that
would have course in this project blow
High limitations and stuff but uh I just
we have a lot of concerns about just
maneuverability the safety of uh working
in the alleys and of course fire
department access in the alley and in in
Marsh way accessing the
buildings appreciate your time
today thank you very
much Michael mule
uh mayor council persons thanks for
having me I'm here to uh speak in
support of the mosal living project um I
own a restaurant called hoola modern
Tiki in Oldtown we're uh working toward
our 11th year in Oldtown and what we've
noticed the last several years is
there's been a major draw North so the
energy that used to rest right in
Oldtown when I was a kid has now gone
North to places like the Scottsdale
quarter and kand and I think the reason
is because as part of those projects
residential infrastructure or density
was was a part of the project from
Square One what better way to ensure
people patronize your businesses than to
build residence for them in close
proximity I think it's the one thing
that Oldtown seems to lack and we just
can't get past this us against them
thing where some of us want to modernize
to some degree and some of us want to
keep this an old western town and I
think both of those things can coexist
you you can have the character of
Oldtown and still provide the amenities
that people expect when they come to an
upscale place like
Scottdale I think that the walkability
aspect of Oldtown is better than any
place in the city and what better way to
take advantage of that than to build
residential infrastructure to be able to
work in Scottdale and live in Scottdale
particularly in Oldtown where you can
walk or bike to work come home take your
dog for a walk patronize some of the
restaurants and really enjoy all Oldtown
has to offer I mean if you drive around
Oldtown let's be honest there's a lot of
Oldtown that's sort of in disrepair and
there's no reason that a project like
this which is going to enhance the the
overall aesthetic for the entire area
there's no reason to allow a project
like this to go forward that's 12
additional families that could live
there that's 12 additional people I mean
uh families who would have visitors to
come into town those visit are they
going to want to experience the art and
the culture of Oldtown those visitors
are going to want to go to the
restaurants and the bars those visitors
are going to tell other people to come
and visit Oldtown
Scottdale I think that residential
density is really the key to the success
in the future of of Oldtown and as a
business owner I've watched it get more
and more difficult to make a profit I
mean the economy obviously is a factor
right now for all of us but as the
energy has been drawn North out of
Oldtown I think that we we need to find
a way
to find a way to perpetuate the success
that Oldtown has always been known for
and I think one of the ways to do that
obviously is to allow more creative
residential density like this project so
thank you appreciate your time thank you
very much Steve
Johnson and the last speaker I have on
my list is uh dwey shade who will speak
next
before I get started I'd want to request
the city invest in a better sound system
for this place because so many important
things are discussed and I couldn't hear
a third of it so maybe some sound
baffles or something but anyways um I
have my building directly behind this
proposed project and right next door to
a building that the developer the owner
um developed a few years ago um and so I
have some concerns with that um this
building is going to be about over twice
the size of the last one that was built
and um it's just my experience of going
through the two years of construction
for that building um the destruction it
did to my building the disruption it did
to my business I extremely concerned of
what is going to happen when something
two and a half times the size is built
directly behind me um there's these
drawings and things that were submitted
to me me there's a lot of vague
inconsistencies in it and um to just
blanket approve that stuff has a lot of
concerns for me um they mentioned that
the utility polls were going to be moved
there's three utility polls on the plan
and there are two other utility boxes
that are not even mentioned on that plan
that those affect four buildings in
about almost 20 tenants and what is
involved with moving something like that
it's a huge cost for a single building
and um I don't want to get this thing
out of the ground built and then
suddenly they don't have the funds to
literally move all that power and how is
it how are the power lines are they
going to come on to everybody's property
and dig up their parking lots and stuff
like that just a lot of unknowns with
that and
um the original Planet was on one lot
and they're 30 foot wide lots and the
original plan had a a storefront across
that 30 foot lot this new plan is now
double the size it's 60 feet and the
storefront is pushed back and probably
only about 20 feet of glass so it
doesn't even fit in with the the
residential field or I'm sorry the um
retail feel of the area that you know
pretty much it's all storefronts on the
the lower level so this new proposal
even though it's twice as wide at 60 ft
has a considerably smaller storefront
Pres pres that's pushed back and even uh
a little harder to see and this um I
listen to everybody talk about the
parking requirements and stuff like that
this actual property is at the
intersection of two pretty busy
Alleyways and I I think that has to be
taken into consideration above and
beyond of just what's written as an
ordinance of how cars are parked um
there's there's a big restaurant at the
end at the intersection of this alley
there's constantly big trucks and um I
drive it every day and there's um tons
of tourists there's zero visibility when
somebody's walking off that sidewalk um
into this Alleyway and stuff and none
none of that is concerned and I think if
we're getting this major development
here critical issues like that could be
um addressed or should be addressed
thank you thank you very much and
finally Dy shade you'll have five
minutes
good evening U mayor and Madame mayor
and members of the council I'm Dey
shotty and uh my uh scotdale address is
a record but for more than four decades
I've owned commercial properties on
Fifth Avenue and Marshall way including
the lot of joining this project to the
South
and also the center directly across the
street to the
West this project as it was presented to
the design review board in
December and which is before you today
is fundamentally
flawed this project is out of character
for this iconic location the location is
the horse Fountain that's at the head of
Marshall way and is on the brochures
that go throughout the world advertising
Scottsdale in general and the Oldtown
Fifth Avenue Marshal way in
particular and the project also
diminishes the Ambiance of this
delightful
neighborhood but most
significantly the council has received
information this evening that this
project as
proposed specifically violates the
relevant provisions of the city's
parking ordinance and as such
endangers Public Safety for these
reasons the council's decision this
evening should be to reverse the
December 12th decision of design review
board and to die to deny the project in
its confusing and violative current
status before you tonight there are
three reasons which support a decision
by the council sitting tonight as a
design review
board that confirm the correct course of
action is to reverse and to deny first
today's case 46- drr
2022 number two should never have been
allowed as a revision to the original
case number
46d
2022 which was approved in 2023
almost uh two and a half years ago
today's proposal is 100% larger than the
than the 2022 case which involved only
one
lot the present case twice as large as
the original should not be permitted to
carry forward the many flaws of the
20122 drb case and to be re to be
ratified by the council three years
later second this project is a new build
therefore it must apply with all
ordinance regulations this project does
not the current ordinance requires a 24
foot Drive aisle from both
alleys this requirement cannot be
disregarded and even worse the city
council or the design review board
cannot and it must not approve a project
which will assuredly allow a trespass on
a neighbor's property to maneuver into
garages Mr Ramirez has told you about
this and Mr March has as
well third in the event that the
applicant may suggest any changes on the
Fly this evening or proposes some quick
stipulations which no one has seen
and have not received careful scrutiny
such a procedure should be viewed as
unacceptable by the council as you meet
tonight as the design review board
moreover such a last minute maneuver
would be a tacit recognition that the
project exists as it exists is flawed
for these reasons I respectfully request
that the council sitting tonight as a
design review board reverse the December
12th 2024 drb decision and deny this
project I want to thank you for the
opportunity to present my comments thank
you very
much that concludes the public comments
on uh agenda item number 15 and I
personally have some questions uh not
from the applicant but from Greg I think
spoke on behalf of of the city who's
going to talk about
this uh mayor barosi I'm happy to answer
any questions you may have so and I
didn't see anyone else on the board yet
but
um so there was some conflicting
information that we just heard uh you
advised that the project itself complied
with all a as right zoning and that it
was compliant with the parking
requirements and setbacks and
Etc all the you know the ordinances that
we have in place and we use to evaluate
projects and I just heard from a couple
of speakers that that's not accurate so
can you speak to
that sure mayor barowski and council
members uh we did a full review of this
project uh from a zoning ordinance and
design policy
perspective and one of the things that
the parking ordinance allows is for a
drb the V review board to
approve uh parking space sort of like a
hybrid parking space as a loading space
that could still be used by residents or
guests of the project so the parking
does comply with the ordinance in terms
of the step backs again as I mentioned
previously there are encroachments
permitted into that step back in this
case specifically it's balconies and
covers over balconies so we did a
thorough review of it from a ordinance
and policy perspective and uh it it
meets all those requirements
thank you and I'll give the applicant
the same opportunity to speak to that if
you
wish thank you mayor brosi I do I would
like the opportunity to address that um
we're in agreements with staff that this
project complies with all of the
ordinance requirements I think that
we've demonstrated we've pulled directly
from the code those things that are
required from the design standard policy
menu man manual sorry um and so it's O
the project is overp parked it's not
only you know barely eeking by the
project provides more than enough
required parking per the zoning
ordinance so it's not even a close case
and it's actually one of the only
projects on the entire Street that's
going to provide its own on-site
parking thank you and I that's concludes
my questions on on that topic councilman
Graham I think these questions are for
probably staff um probably Greg thank
you Madame mayor so we are acting as a
drb board and we care about design and
layout as it relates to the surrounding
Environ and as
especially as it relates to the
surrounding
area um this is not just any
intersection in
Scottdale this intersection is
exceptional
and it does deserve I believe the
highest scru
scrutiny um allowed to the drb
board um I guess this is to the
applicant the the the whole
turning turning radius getting cars into
the 90 degree angle parking spots did
you consider developing a computer
computer drafted simulation I've seen
those before pretty common y that's kind
of that's kind of I mean in addition to
the massing and the
encroachments and the parking but that
is kind of the Crux of a lot of the disa
disapprobation did you consider putting
together a simulation like that yes
councilman gr not only did we consider
it we presented it this evening if Will
um our Oz over there on the screen and
put my presentation back up I'm happy to
go back to that exhibit it's obviously
not a live simulation it's a screen grab
from an from an auto turn um and that
does demonstrate the the parking but I I
would like to show it to you just to
make it clear that we have done that
we've considered it yeah can you do it
briefly please yeah absolutely as soon
as I can get it up I'm happy to do that
for
you that one wasn't me well
presentation's gone thank you
so this is that it's from an autoturn
exhibit and so that demonstrates those
turning
radiuses I was kind of hoping for more
like a a live simulation but that does
provide some some degree of simulation
um obviously by being here your client
and the ab budding
neighbors
um have not come to complete uh
agreement to the
um specifics of this project in the
application somebody mentioned this to
me I don't know if this is true but does
the application provide num for the
units um the bedroom count so number of
one bedrooms two bedrooms are there any
two bedrooms in the council member
Graham it it is on the site plan there
are three two-bedroom units and nine
one-bedroom units proposed okay any any
um okay
and
um do we the council or the commenter Mr
shotty mentioned this probably be for Mr
Bloomberg mentioned or discussed 24 feet
spacing can you do you remember that
comment I didn't quite catch what he
meant by that maybe you could provide
some light on that Mr Bloomberg do you
do you recall that comment sure uh mayor
barowski and council member Graham um
there is a 24t width requirement aisle
width requirement for Onsite parking
when there's an on-site Drive AIS what
the ordinance States though is for
parking that's accessed off an
alley uh the minimum setback is 10 feet
from the center line to the back of the
spaces now in order to get a 24 foot
alley here the property owner to the
north would have to provide an
additional dedication so that their half
is the name is the half that the this
applicant has come up with or is
dedicating we can't ask that property
owner to the north to make that
dedication and this has been done a few
times in Oldtown over the years uh so
it's kind of a it's kind of a catch 22
it's yes it's a narrower alley but it
does meet the the intent of the code um
you said that's been done before has it
been done in intersection as sensitive
as
this uh it has not been done at the
particular location there are areas in
Old Town where it has been done I just I
think I have some I have some doubts
about the massing at this point as I
absorb everything and as I study my
packet hearing resident input
um as it relates to the surrounding area
the design the massing um squeezing
every possible inch so I have my doubts
on this and thank you madam mayor thank
you councilman Graham Council woman
Whitehead um thank you mayor and we are
here among some greats right in terms of
land owners in our old town so I will
say that I've had some tours with both
Steve and Jose and both of you have
incredible projects and of course we
have u a national up we have the uh Kaa
I'm going to say it wrong I know there's
a longer name but we have the oldest
building in uh downtown Scottsdale the
owner of that building and it's now part
of the National Historic registry of
places so thank you beautiful um you
know it's always hard when there's
changes but a lot of the complaints I'm
hearing are in fact part of the zoning
case like massing and um the height so
these aren't issues that we have any
purview over but I do and the mayor
asked some of the questions I was going
to ask which is that do we meet the
parking code because as obviously we
have strong P private property rights in
the state so we cannot ask an applicant
to go above and beyond the uh code and
we also cannot ask a private property
owner to do work on property that that
person doesn't own so I think we're in a
like I think Greg said it we're in a
catch 22 here Catch 22 in terms of this
width um but just to confirm the parking
code we meet that and this Council
actually I mean the last Council
actually changed the parking code and
the setbacks we meet all required
setbacks on this
project mayor barowski and council
member Whitehead they do and does this
project meet the fire
code mayor barowski and councilwoman
Whitehead the fire department did review
the project as part of the Dr review so
as to my knowledge yes it does okay and
then on the
um on the uh width the required so you
have an alley just for people for the
public you have an alley and half of the
alley is owned by or responsibility of
one property owner and the other half is
the responsibility in this case of the
property owner to the north so how how
wide is the alley from the proposed
building to the center of the alley
perhaps that's a good uh question for
the applicant yeah absolutely thank you
council member Whitehead so current
alley is 8 feet from the property line
to the center line we'll be dedicating
two additional feet that's that becomes
City RightWay so that's 10 ft that's the
complete alley with dedication and then
we've set back that parking an
additional 2 feet as a courtesy to the
adjacent Property Owners so it's a
better condition than what was approved
in 2023 on the site okay so we have now
12 feet correct to the center line yes
okay and so and I realized and I don't
even know who the property owner to the
north is so I'm not beating them up or
anything but that un so the alley to the
north the the other half how wide is
that that the property to the north has
an 8 foot um from the their property
line to the center line of the alley
council member okay and so that really
sums up the catch Point too so if that
property owner were to um make to
improve the property they would be
required to to widen their portion of
the alley is that correct so council
member Whitehead that's probably a
better question for your staff but my
understanding whenever we come in when
my clients come in with requests for the
city every time we're on an alley that
is 16 feet wide 8 feet to the center
line we get the same comment from your
staff which is you're dedicating 2 feet
of right of way as required but I'll let
Greg speak to that Greg could you speak
to that sure uh mayor barowski
councilman Whitehead uh the two foot
dedication is is a standard requirement
for any project in an old town and uh
like I mentioned before uh we cannot ask
the property owner to the north to make
a dedication of course not to uh get
that full alley with and that's where
that catch22 comes in okay and is are
there other concerns I heard I guess
some of you drive big trucks so would it
not be a violation if a person Parks a
truck that
um that um takes up some of the alley
space I mean would would that be a
violation from the person driving it you
can't have somebody bring in a vehicle
that doesn't fit just like you have like
uh whatever in the airport there's small
car parking and normal car parking so
would that be if you have somebody with
a large truck and they Park and they
block the alley is that of is is that a
violation that they that could they
could get a ticket
for mayor barowski and councilman way
Hadad before I answer that I want to go
back to your previous question you asked
if if the property to the north if when
it's developed or redeveloped if that
two foot would be a requirement yes it
would be uh so we would ask them to
complete that alley okay um the design
standards and policies manual does again
allow for the board if they feel it's
appropriate to
uh allow for a parking space on site 10
x18 to be designated as a loaning zone
now whether or not a bigger truck could
fit in there it's probably arguable
probably wouldn't but technically no
loading or unloading is supposed to
occur in the alley okay okay and then
the public parking spaces in the front
those are just additional they're not
required the the added parking spots on
the street side mayor barowski council
on Whitehead that's correct um
um okay and I had
another oh I just wanted to touch on
safety um Miss Simonson often calls me
because um in a different part of
downtown trucks do have a very hard time
getting into our alleys and sometimes
they Bang into her building um is there
anything that I mean not specific to
this project but are there some mirrors
or something we could do to add to the
safety concerns that I heard about
pedestrians and cars moving through this
busy
alley uh mayor barowski and councilman
wad I'd probably ask for someone from
transportation to respond to that if
there's somebody available is there
anybody oh here comes somebody thank you
for being
here uh good evening mayor Browski
councilwoman Whitehead my name Sam
Taylor I'm principal traffic engineer
with the city of Scottsdale um I believe
your question was is there any safety um
devices or something we could do to help
um specifically you mentioned mirrors we
don't do mirrors um in the city of
Scottville uh they they would create a
maintenance issue for us so um and yeah
um we we can look at um we have gotten
requests for traffic calming related to
speed concerns in Alleyways before um
that's about the most of what we would
do in an Alleyway okay there is one
mirror where I Bike To Work under the
Indian School underpass so and I find it
helpful but I I don't think it's caused
any maintenance problems but it's not
for cars it's for bikes um finally
construction mitigation plans so back to
you Greg is that a requirement and and
even if not we've had such good luck
with um developers agreeing to figure
out where their construction workers so
so that's a question for both of you on
the constru because that is a problem
the construction mitigation really helps
to eliminate you know disruption go
ahead yeah mayor barowski and Council
and Whitehead construction management
construction mitigation cannot be done
in the alley technically if they want to
get approval for a marshalling yard in
the right away they can get approval for
something like that with the approval
from the rideway manager Andor uh
traffic engine ering but TR construction
mitigation they have to provide all
their storage on private property and
they have to tell us where all the
employees all the workers are going to
be parking and that's part of the deal
and I realize this is a very small
project we've done this with the kimy
we've done this with much larger
projects but I um you know to Mr
Johnson's point do you have any plans of
how you will minimize the impact during
construction yes of course thanks
council member Whitehead for the
question so the property owner did do a
development on Craftsman directly across
the alley from the site so he's
experienced with these kind of
challenging infill construction sites
it's no easy feet but to Greg's point
there are requirements there's no alley
blockage there's no storage of materials
it all happens on site we are lucky we
do have that space in front of the site
right now which is a a driveway that'll
ultimately be removed we're again
willing to stripe that for those public
parking spaces some Vehicles could be
parked there um I was I was there this
weekend and I saw cars parked so I know
that they'll fit um to the extent that
there might be small periods of time a
couple hours where a crane needs to come
in and drop materials um I've spoken
with the property owner those drops will
occur like 5 six o'clock in the morning
so they'll be designed so as not to be
disruptive to the adjacent
businesses okay thank you and I do want
to mention something about Hulu I love
the restaurant and I am a firm believer
that if people live in Oldtown it'll be
a much more thriving place we want to
thrive year round and we want people
heading into Hulu and all the other
great establishments so I'll be
supporting the project thank you thank
you thank you vice mayor
devasquez thank you I wanted to ask a
question about the um parking allowance
for the loading zone um you said that
it's allowed is it required to be
considered in the numbers or is it
permissible mayor barowski and
councilman duus are you talking about
the option to have have an on-site space
Des designated as a loading zone yeah
the the loading zone in the back of the
building um that is being counted as one
of the parking spaces um is it a loading
zone or is it a parking
space mayor barowski and Council when
deasus like I mentioned before when it's
not being used for loading it can be
used as a residential parking space or
as a gas parking space but it's
development review board that that
ultimately
approves the uh the use of a parking
space for loading and
unloading okay so we are not required to
consider that to be a parking space
because it is a loading
zone mayor barowski and councilwoman
deasus that's more of an or they can
consider
that uh mayor and uh vice mayor yes you
you would not be required to allow that
it it's my understanding it's
discretionary uh with the drb this is on
a appeal the council is setting at drb
as drb so it would be discretionary
thank
you and if I may just to be clear vice
mayor dousis we've revised the plan so
that we don't need the loading space uh
to be counted as a vehicular parking
space to meet the parking requirements
if that addresses your concern so my my
question came from three two bedroom
units that means six parking spaces nine
W bedroom units means 15 parking spaces
toal total I count 14
here I'm sure will would help me bring
my presentation up but there's 16 onsite
parking spaces but um I'm I'm a show not
tell kind of girl so please yes let's
we'll pull that
up hey well how do I make this thing go
back if you can help me get to the
presentation um council member or vice
mayor devasquez I'll I'll show you where
those spaces are but we have 16 um
dedicated V vehicular parking spaces
without that loading zone
space Oh now we've gone way too
far Council foran devasquez they're
pulling that up um I don't know if
you're aware but there are some uh uh
tandem spaces proposed on the site plan
and those are allowed now they didn't
used to be but now they are allowed and
they just have to be designated for that
for those two spaces have to be
designated to the same unit but tandem P
Parking is now allowed I'm not sure if
you were aware that that was part of the
plan yes thank
you and any minute now I'm sure I'll
have a site plan plan to show
you actually might have something you
could put on the Elmo if it's too hard
to get the plan
back thank you so much for doing that um
so let's see if I can get
you uh here we go so if you take a look
at this plan here and if you start with
that ADA van space that's on the far
left side of the screen for you you'll
see those are all numbered um 14 those
are in the garage spaces and then if you
go to the Eastern portion of the alley
there's two additional spaces located
off of that alley as well and then those
are right next to that loading zone
spot thank you of course thank you thank
you councilwoman
Littlefield thank you mayor um I'm going
to keep this pretty short um most of my
question questions and comments and
concerns have been addressed already and
uh I do have a couple of things I want
to do differently I have two uh papers
here that I want to pass out to
everyone um so everybody take a copy and
I'll move it the other direction also
put one the elbow
yeah wait minut did I pass both of them
mayor if I may Sher I Scott from the
legal department I just want to make
sure there's a a copy for the applicant
yes there is she wants to show it on the
Elmo should I just bring it up
okay and here's the next one two I have
two so you hand that one to him
too and
um I think I have an
extra copy for Greg
too there you just um yeah but give one
to grade to
Greg oh
okay
okay
okay these sheets um that I have passed
out are actual counts of current traffic
using this alley on a daily basis this
is two days worth of traffic a Friday
and and a Monday I we did not put a
weekend on because we thought that would
be different number and we tried to make
it different parts of the days so that
you can see what all is going on in this
alley right
now this is a very busy area and it
needs to remain clear for the traffic
needed by the current businesses and
residents garbage trucks police fire
parking by employees owners guests as
well as people just walking through to
other locations from the sheets I
presented to you all that will be a
daily issue of some magnitude what are
your plans and how are you going to
handle these needs this is a lot of
traffic through this
alley these are not long-term
considerations um but they're practical
requirements for you to look at and to
to study this alley also is a
thoroughfare for safety Vehicles police
fire ambulance service all of those
things come through there as public
service um you have trucks on one day
you had 75 cars 15 trucks and 97
pedestrians that's a lot of traffic for
one day through an alley next day you
had 75 cars no next day you had 53 cars
four trucks and 39 pedestrians so it
makes a huge concern for me as to how
are you going to
handle this kind of traffic through this
alley on a regular everyday basis we
purpose purposely did not use a weekend
because we figured it would be more on a
weekend um so I have a concern for that
how are we going to
re schedule this kind of traffic on a on
a daily basis
um longterm
considerations um I'm glad to see that
the balconies were removed and I thank
you for doing that I appreciate it I've
been told and I agree that uh on on
street parking is allowed for three
hours at a time and that the members and
and um visitors and users of these
apartments can be uh parking on the uh
street parking for 3 hours at a time
like anyone else this is public parking
and it is usable by all members of the
public however the purpose of on street
parking is not to house apartment
dwellers that is supposed to be
available within the development on
street parking in front of businesses is
to provide parking for the customers of
the businesses that it is in front of it
is currently pretty much fully used as
such to take that parking away to use it
for residents and residential friends
who are staying with them it will hurt
the current businesses in the area I
also have another question if apartment
renters Park their cars there they too
will have to come out and move their
cars every three hours or they'll get a
parking ticket just like anybody else so
is that going to be you know part of the
stipulations or or information that you
give residents if they plan on using
this open parking and will they get
ticketed if they don't move move does
this go on into the night that's
something I'm not sure of but if it does
does that mean anyone who Parks their
car there at night from the apartment
complex has to get up every 3 hours and
move it that would be really weird and
it would be very um not friendly to your
residents I was told by staff that land
use zoning and density are not drb
considerations we can't consider that
tonight
but some has to be a little bit
considered because they interact with
the construction process and with you as
as you build this project and I would
like to know your time frame on this how
soon do you think you're going to start
construction how long will it take and
when will it end because that affects
the area and the neighborhoods in the
surrounding
areas a couple of Minor Details as we
calculate all of this first you can't
use the docking spaces as parking spaces
I think uh that is separate under law if
I am not mistaken could you could tell
me on that
Sherry um mayor and um councilwoman
Littlefield that's correct the the
council does not have to allow the
loading space to be used as a parking
space however the applicant has
clarified that they've met the parking
requirement without that space okay
also uh the final alley width must be
about 24 feet that is the current code
if I am not mistaken today I believe the
width is 16 is that going to be
increased thank you council member I
think I wrote all that down I would love
to address each of those points you'll
have to forgive me if I miss something
but I think I got them all um I think
we'll just walk back because those are
the ones freshest in my mind okay um so
you had just mentioned that the final
alley width needs to be 24 ft um I we
talked about that probably ad nauseum
tonight but I just I think it Bears
repeating just for the sake of clarity I
don't want there to be any confusion or
any any lack of understanding about what
the requirement is your design standard
and policy manual guideline requirement
is that alleys are 20 feet when you're
adjacent to anything other than a single
family use so the 24t alley width is not
a requirement here um there some of the
members of the opposition have mentioned
24 ft with respect to drive aisles
however that is an erroneous reading of
the code that is with respect to onsite
circulation again the zoning ordinance
is pretty explicitly clear on this that
it's only 10et required to the center
line um but again we did bump our
building back two feet with this
amendment so the extent that there might
have been concerns about the prior
approval which by the way has building
permits in they could get pulled within
the next couple months and we could
build that building and it would be
closer to the neighbor this building
presents a better circumstance for them
um so I I hope that kind of answers your
question about the alley widths um you
asked about construction timing and
stuff I would love to assume that that
means that you'll be supporting the
request tonight obviously we can't do
anything um unless this is approved and
so if we receive approval this evening
we've already got building permits that
are almost in their final review for the
first building we'll have to make some
amendments but we're ready to prepare
those immediately I would expect those
to be filed within the next I don't know
3 to six months um and review time is
obviously dependent upon your staff
probably takes about a year to get those
permits in hand and then shovels would
go in the ground immediately typical
time frames are about 18 months to two
years for a project like this so that's
what I would expect um the timeline to
look like it's obviously dependent on a
ton of factors uh so but but I think
that's a good ballpark for for you to
consider um you had mentioned on street
parking a number of times I do want to
be clear we're not taking away any on
street parking there's actually no on
street parking right now in front of
these two Parcels what we've done with
our slightly tweaked site plan that we
presented this evening is that we're
proposing to add for so we'll give the
city those four public parking spaces
those have nothing to do with our
project we don't intend to park in them
they're game for any member of the
public in that area so they'll be for
the benefit of all in that area um and
so we again provide ample parking on
site we don't need the loading zone to
be counted towards our parking
requirement but it's practically it's an
open space during any time that no one
is loading so there's an extra space
there and then we do provide the bicycle
parking which is a byright credit of one
b um vehicular parking space again we
don't need it so we're good on parking
we don't need public parking we don't
intend to use those spaces guests of the
apartments would be allowed to use those
just as any guest of any of the adjacent
businesses would be permitted to have
their guests Park in those spaces within
the parameters of the city's guidelines
of course so people are parked for more
than three hours and traffic
enforcements out that day probably
getting a ticket um but we are not
relying on those spaces so but we are
proposing to add to your public parking
Supply and it's something that we're
willing to do with approval this evening
uh okay still still walking back here um
this the counts here uh obviously I
haven't seen these before they sound
like big numbers this is great by the
way I love to see big pedestrian numbers
like this this is awesome for your old
toown Merchants for many of the small
businesses that wrode in support of this
project who are desperate for residents
who don't want to rely on tourists are
begging you to bring residents downtown
that's cars off of the street sure it's
more pedestrians but that is exactly
what these businesses are asking for
they want more people walking around and
so I think that the alley width today
it's 16 feet so this this traffic exists
today whether or not we do anything here
we'll make that alley wider we can't
control who walks through the alley I
was on the site over the weekend maybe
you guys counted me here I drove it and
I walked everything um I did not feel
unsafe I'm not aware of any incidents of
vehicles versus pedestrian accidents in
this area
I will give you it's it's busy I ran
into someone I go to Pilates with in
Scottdale out there walking around it
was an incredibly busy day everything
seemed very safe there were lots of
people out walking around so I think
this is a a good thing for the area I'm
encouraged to see these numbers we'd
love to see less vehicles in the alleys
and part of that is bringing residents
to downtown like what we're proposing to
do every car in their parking garage out
here is a car that's not driving around
Oldtown going to holas or or going to
Shmo they can just walk there from their
residences so having people close to
where they can get their haircut get
facials all those types of amenities
that are prevalent in this area will
help with these numbers but we want big
pedestrian numbers in this area that's
exactly what your your Merchants are
asking for I think I hit everything
please well I hope you don't close that
off then because I think uh this is
going to be a very big difficult
situation for those folks
um I don't like the site plan per se um
the plan has
12 uh units on one fifth of an acre
that's dense um substandard driveway
access it sounds like you've done a lot
of work on that and I appreciate it but
I'm still not convinced that that's what
this project needs um the applicant
stated that they also own the building
at 4238 Craftsman's court and which has
similar alley uh conditions however the
Craftsman's Court the applicant inset
the garage 6 feet and that was beyond
the twoot dedication at the 16t alley to
achieve 24t
driveways do we need to have a similar
inset to comply council member
Littlefield I appreciate the question um
we we think that we've designed a great
project here and the site is very tight
that's at the rear of the Craftsman
property so there's a lot more give
there we have moved the building back
quite away from that same alley that
you're discussing this is on the
opposite side of that on the West Side
um so we've provided way more than six
feet on that side in terms of how much
give we have on the side of this parcel
that's only you know it was 30 feet then
it's 28 and now we're talking about six
more feet I just don't think it's
possible we have access requirements for
fire circulation to your points um about
safety we have internal evacuation routs
that we had to keep that have to have
egress points um to your sidewalks on
Marshall way there's internal
circulation stairwells there's just too
much to fit so it's infill is tough it
makes for a tight site there's not six
feet to give here but we've provided
more than adequate distance for those
parking
spaces thank you thank
you thank you councilwoman
McAllen thank you mayor
um Lauren question uh the picture that
um I believe it was Jose showed was the
alley as is and you're going to have two
feet off of that so it will be larger
than it appeared in that picture correct
council member Ken yes thank you so much
for asking I saw that picture I was like
yeah exactly we're gonna make this
better so yes two feet and then two more
feet thank you uh I am new to the
council just a whole month and a half
I've done a lot I would say extensive
amount of research on this project I've
met with both parties I've met with
other people downtown I've actually
walked it four times um and looking at
where the city is and that everything
has been met according to our guidelines
I move that we accept Marshall living as
presented this evening mayor barowski
and Council Mallen if I may um with that
include the applicants revised site
plan okay yes want to make sure that's
included in the motion I'll second the
motion thank you very much before I call
for a vote I just want to make one final
comment um based on all the information
we have before us the applicant has
checked every single box within the
city's framework for approval on this
project and it looks like a nice project
and I think you've done a good job
answering all the questions now if
there's a question or there's an issue
and I hear the property owners as well
about the way that the framework uh that
the city has for applicants and and new
builds of this kind or or remodels Etc
if that's the problem you know it's we
can't put that on the backs of uh of
property owners that are complying with
absolutely every
criteria that we have before them to
achieve and so that that's a tough one
um it's very important to me as you know
during when I ran for the office of
Mayor to engage in a serious look at the
revitalization of Oldtown that's a big
big goal and to me it appears we need to
take a hard look at what the criteria is
how we can improve it and not just um be
reactive and not that we're being
reactive here but uh you know maybe it's
time to get the downtown um
revitalization group back together and
and do some real serious improvements
that are meaningful for not only new
applicants but for existing Property
Owners to protect them as well so with
that I'm going to call for the vote uh
there is a motion all those in favor
please indicate
and there you go it passes 4 to three
thank you very much everyone that spoke
and the applicant thank you thank you
very
much all right tonight we have no
citizen petitions that I'm aware of and
uh therefore we're going to move right
into our last item which is a work study
session and that item is work study
session see
here oh almost forgot item number seven
are we still do we need to do that still
yes madame
mayor if I thank you for your patience
as we conducted research and found that
our procurement uh timeline allowed
for some flexibility has flexibility and
would be able to accommodate uh
continuance if that's the pleasure of
council that's my preference and so we
had a motion I guess I'll just make a
motion to uh move item number seven
which involves in my opinion some pretty
complicated issues and I'd prefer to see
that on a future agenda after we can
take that offline and get briefed on it
more more uh completely so I'll make the
motion to move item number s
agenda item 7 to a future count the next
regular Council uh
meeting
second okay all those in favor of
putting item number seven on the next
regular agenda please indicate your
vote thank you all right now we can move
right on into the work study session
which will involve a quarterly financial
and capital Improvement plan uh CIP
updates backing up to the consent or the
item we just moved uh city manager um
Kon I would love to see or who whomever
is going to be in charge of that if we
could get a briefing on that uh prior to
and if needed you know meetings with
Council yes certainly thank you thank
you okay and I'm not sure who's
presenting on this find oh I see our
city treasur are sitting there ready to
go okay thank you mayor thank you
Council next slide so this is our
quarterly Financial update and our
quarterly Financial update primarily
focuses on our general fund the general
fund is the city's largest operating
fund and in this quarterly update we
provide um budget to actual results for
revenues as well as our major
expenditures next
slide before I start on the budget and
actual wanted to talk about our sales
tax revenues sales tax is the largest
source of revenues in the general fund
and over the last few years we've had
some very significant fluctuations in
our sales tax revenues mainly because of
the economic stimulus the pandemic
spending inflation strong job growth and
wage growth so as you can see um
previous to the pandemic our average
annual year-over-year growth is around
four to 4.5%
and with the last few years with the
pandemic it skyrocketed in terms of our
uh year-over-year sales tax revenue
growth next
slide um sorry can you go back one
slide
oh there was supposed to be a
um new revised version with a new slide
in there that was sent to the Kaa
yeah thank
you so this shows the
uh actual sales tax revenues in the
general fund from 2015 through 2020
fiscal year 2020 as you can see the um
annual growth compound annual growth
from 2015 to 2020 is a little over 4%
and then with the pandemic spending it
went up 11% in
2021 21% in 2022
99.7% in 2023 and then it dropped a
little bit in
2024 so with this kind of fluctuation
it's really hard for us to know how much
this increase is a new base in our sales
tax revenues versus a bubble in the
sales tax revenues so because of this
fluctuation what we did for uh fiscal
year 25 this fiscal year is we projected
a uh no growth in our sales tax because
we don't know whether it's going to go
down it's going to go up it's really
hard to predict so next slide so what
you'll see as the as I show you the
budget in actual is our budget assumed
no growth in sales tax for fiscal year
25 partly because of the negative
year-over-year growth in FIS school year
24 and also because economists were
projecting a Slowdown in consumer
spending however consumer spending to
date have outpaced our expectations due
to the continued job growth and wage
growth so next slide so overall our
total general fund revenues are 2% above
budget sales tax revenue growth were 9%
above budget that's offset by the
property tax reduction because of the
quasm lawsuit now can go into that a
little bit more later on the expenditure
side general fund expenditures are
within budget with a 3% positive
variance mostly due to uh salary and
vacancy savings as well as timing of
expenditures as we do these quarterly
updates uh we try to budget our
expenditures and revenues by month and
by quarter and so it results in a lot of
timing differences sometimes next slide
this slide shows you all the uh sales
tax revenues by category as you can see
our retail sales tax has uh the very
first line up there is
17% uh positive
variance primarily due to retail stores
doing better than expected and also a
one-time large audit payment that we
received as well the other uh categories
that have significant um positive budget
variances are automotive category and
that that is also due to a new
dealership in town and also a large
one-time audit payment and the other one
is the hotel motel category at 12% um
positive variance that's also due to a
new hotel and also some timing
differences as well so overall our sales
tax revenues in the general fund has
come in about 9% over budget or 7.9
million positive variance overall budget
next slide and this just shows you a
chart of our 12-month rolling average
for our local sales tax revenues as you
can see it's been pretty flat um over
the last fiscal year uh last fiscal year
24 and as well as fiscal year
25 next slide onto our um total sources
in the general fund aside from the local
sales tax we also have state shared
revenues and charges for services and
other revenues as well for charges for
services a lot of that is timing
differences in terms of when we budgeted
and and expected to receive the revenues
versus when we actually receive the
revenues there's also some increases in
our uh Revenue projections from for
example fire insurance premiums the city
receives um an allocation of fire
insurance premiums tax and that has
significantly increased over the last uh
year due to the increase in fire
insurance
um on the other where um it's a negative
10% that is primarily due to our
property tax revenues coming in lower
because of the quasm lawsuit judgment
from the county and just real quickly
the county um received a judgment for um
over collecting uh property taxes from
residential uh properties converting to
rental so as a result of the Judgment
they have been refunding ing uh property
taxes this fiscal year we did not know
about this judgment and refund until the
budget was put together uh for the for
this fiscal
year um next slide and finally this is a
oh um slide on our general fund uses as
you can see total uses came in about 3%
within budget um the other category is
primarily again timing differences where
we budget it to pay something in
December but it hasn't occurred yet so a
lot of that is timing differences and
next
slide and this is the uh uses by uh
Division and you can see for the uh some
of the larger variances for the charter
officers uh mayor council Charter
officer that is due to vacancies so
primarily vacancies like in the city
auditor's office the city auditor
vacancy as well as the city Treasures
Office we didn't have a budget director
or accounting manager for most of the
year so those are the savings from the
vacancies and then the uh negative
variance in the administrative Services
is due to allocation of um Citywide
software cost that occurred earlier than
expected and then also in the public
works where we have an 8% variance is
vacancy savings and also some custodial
invoices that we haven't received yet so
we thought we were going to receive it
but we haven't received it yet so the
payments haven't been made
yet um with that I can answer any
questions you might have thank you vice
mayor
deasus thank you Sonia I just had a
question comparing uh the charts on page
four and Page seven so on page four we
say that the general fund sales tax
revenue is down 3.4% growth in fiscal
year
2024 but then when I look at page
seven um fiscal year 24 actuals
91.6 uh fiscal year 25 actuals
98.7 so can you help me understand how
to read those two charts together
because it looks like down but then it
looks like up yes thank you so much for
that question mayor counsel um the chart
for can you uh oh actually we have to
put it back on so sorry
the minus
3.4% is the change from the prior year
so that is the drop from fiscal year
23 so fiscal year 23 recollected or
recognized 199 million in sales tax
revenues and fiscal year 24 it came in
at 193 so that decrease from fiscal SCH
year 23 to 24 is minus
3.4% so now if we go to slide um
seven um sorry slide six on yours yes
this is the 8% is the change from fiscal
year 25 and fiscal year
24 23 24 to 24 25 yes got it thank you
thank you councilman Graham thank you
Madame mayor Sonia the um I look at our
receipts and they look
strong they're going up
um change from prior year 8% 9% above
budget is that
correct year year to date sorry through
December 2024 yes have you looked at um
our neighboring cities um their
financial statements and what their
revenue growth is how we're doing
compared to our
Valley uh
comparators we can certainly do that yes
for the ones that produce and p uh
publish their financial statements
monthly financials online we can
certainly do that it'd be interesting to
know because it seems like you know I'm
glad business is booming and it'd be
interesting to see kind of a comparison
for our peers so but no no obligation on
that thank you thank you madam
here thank you I don't see any other
questions and that completes the
presentation thank you very much and
with that we are at the end of our
agenda and motion to
adjourn mayor I apologize we still have
a presentation on the CIP side oh my
mistake who's doing that
mayor council for the record my name is
Roger Berna I'm the principal project
manager for vertical construction with
capital project management and we have a
seven projects in our capital u
Improvement Plan update for you this
quarter and we'll just go Ahad and roll
a
video's Capital Improvement program
Carefree
Highway the city of Scottdale is
designing improvements to the Carefree
Highway from Cave Creek Road to
Scottsdale Road Road the changes will
improve capacity and operational
efficiency the $21.5 million project
will expand Carefree Highway to two
lanes in each Direction with a center
landscaped raised median the project
will also include bike Lanes a shared
use path Trail curb and gutter drainage
improvements and utility work the
project is funded by the transportation
sales tax and the alcp regional sales
tax construction is scheduled to begin
in late 2025
fire station
612 construction is underway on fire
station 612 on the northeast corner of
Kaden Road and Mayo Boulevard the 12,000
ft fire station will house a four-person
engine company twers battalion chief
unit and a Wildland interface fire
attack vehicle over the past several
months the building has taken shape with
the masonry work on the outer station
walls and firr Bays complete the station
was funded by voters in the 2019 bond
election to improve improve response
times for emergency services in the area
and will also receive funding from
Scottsdale's general fund the new 13.7
million station is anticipated to have a
workload of over 2,000 incidents per
year when it opens in summer of
2025 arsenic treatment facility
115 Scottsdale Water is enhancing its
sustainability efforts by investing in
advanced technology that helps provide
Clean safe water to our residents a key
part of this is the Arsenic treatment
facil
arsenic is naturally present in some of
the groundw we use and it can also be
found in surface water from the verie
river Watershed large treatment vessels
help to reduce or eliminate arsenic as
water passes through materials that
absorb the Arsenic this 9.2 million doll
project is funded by water rates and
will add more treatment vessels to the
facility allowing the city to continue
treating water while the Arsenic
absorbing materials inside are replaced
making the process more efficient
Scottdale operates three treatment
facilities throughout the city working
hard to ensure you always have access to
the cleanest safest water possible
Westworld ports
Barnes Westworld is known for hosting
equestrian events such as the Arabian
horse show Sun circuit Quarter Horse
Show and Scottdale Rodeo the facility
has 20 horse barns that were built in
the early 1980s with 48 stalls in each
Barn that are used to support these
events these Revenue generating
facilities are a key part of any Horse
Show held at West world but several of
them have become unusable due to age-
related deterioration funding was
approved in the 2019 bond election to
renovate the 10 oldest barns but upon
further inspection it was more cost
effective to replace the entire
structure work began on this $8.7
million project with the replacement of
the first Barn in
2022 and this year the seventh barn was
replaced just in time for Scottsdale's
busy event season this project is funded
by Bond 2019 the general fund F and
tourism funds the goal is to continue to
replace a barn a year for the next 3
years as the funding becomes available
the horse doall rentals at West World
generate over a million dollars annually
and support the city's tourism industry
Scottsdale
Stadium Scottdale is making several
upgrades to Scottsdale Stadium this
multi-year project has been broken into
phases that can be constructed in the
window between baseball Seasons recently
completed improvements focused on the
left field BM and include newly expanded
restroom facilities at ground level with
a permanent Deb constructed above it
stairs and an elevator now provide
improved access to the burm during
spring training this feature will
provide a shaded deck for concessions
and seating in the offseason the deck
can be used for events a removable fence
inside the drink waterer gate will allow
access to the burm for use as a day park
in the off season the 11.4 million
project is funded by the general fund
tourism funds and the stadium
concessionaire fund the Final Phase of
improvements is scheduled to begin after
the 2025 spring training season ashler
Hills
Park ashler Hills Park will open this
month becoming Scottsdale's northernmost
Park located at ashler Hills Drive and
74th way the $10.9 million project took
15 months to construct features of the
17 acre Park include open Turf play
areas a shaded playground restrooms
lighted Sports Courts for basketball and
pickle ball walking pass and trails and
70 lighted parking spaces funding for
the park was approved by voters as part
of the 2019 bond election and also comes
from Scottsdale's general fund Indian
Ben wash underpass at sharel Road
Scottdale has a new pedestrian underpass
along the Indian Bend wash multi-use
path improving safety and traffic flow
at the busy intersection of Hayden and
chaperel Roads the $5 million project
took 9 months to complete and reduces
conflicts between pedestrians cyclists
and vehicles by diverting foot and bike
traffic below chapparel Road it allows
for longer green light times for
Scottsdale motorists funded by federal
grants and Scottsdale's Transportation
sales tax the project also included
sidewalk and path modifications near the
intersection underpasses like this one
are a safety feature throughout
Scottsdale's multiuse path system which
is used by over 1.5 million residents
and visitors each year
and that concludes the latest highlights
of capital projects in our community
thanks for
watching thank you very much councilman
Graham real quickly I like the
production very nice cinematography and
the music um maybe in the future and
I've asked this before but uh budget to
actuals for these projects for residents
just to have readily easy access to we
don't even have to go over but just ific
could be in the publicly available
packet um um I think could be beneficial
thank you
mayor thank you and I do you do you have
anything to add no just available for
questions thank you I don't see any
other requests to speak so thank you
very much that was very
nice and now that concludes our agenda
and I'll entertain a motion to
adjourn so moved
second all those in favor say I I sing I
all
right e