City Council | Regular Meeting - December 3, 2024

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I call the December 3rd 2024 city
council regular meeting to order city
clerk Ben Lane please conduct the roll
call thank you mayor mayor David Ortega
present vice mayor Barry Graham present
council members tamy caputti here Tom
Durham here Betty janick here Kathy
Littlefield councilman Littlefield are
you
there and Salange Whitehead here city
manager Jim Thompson here City attorney
Scott here City treasur Sony Andrews
here acting City otter L KF here and the
clerk is present thank you mayor
excellent uh we have Scottdale police
Sergeant Brian heiner as well as
detective Tyler n and firefighter
Bradley Reynolds should anyone need
assistance uh please stand for the
Pledge of Allegiance uh led by
yes I
am I am
here of the United States of
America at this time I do want to draw
our attention uh to war torn countries
as they fight for the Democracy for
their democracy and freedom I also want
us to recognize our own military uh who
are deployed as well as at home
supporting our troops um they are in
danger and uh we ask that uh we reflect
um on their safety
thank
you I am proud to share that the city of
Scottsdale earned the number one spot in
the digital cities awards from the
center for digital governments this
prestigious award highlights our City's
excellent excellence in leveraging
technology to enhance Citizen Services
Safeguard privacy ensure transparency
and deepen constituent engagement
setting a national standard for digital
governance the 2024 digital cities award
is a reflection of the incredible
collaboration between our it information
technology department and every
Department across the city it speaks to
the dedication and creativity of our
teams who continually Implement
innovative solutions to enhance City
operations and services their work has
not only improved the daily lives of our
residents but also solidified our City's
reputation as a leader in digital
transformation um so if you could come
forward from our it team uh we
have an incredible
team e
[Applause]
well thank you very much and uh I will
ask the city manager to present his
report thank you Mr Mayor members of
council this evening we have a short
video here are five things happening
around the city you need to know at
number five don't throw that old cell
phone in the trash there are two
upcoming waste collection events
happening in Scottdale designed to help
protect the environment and your
personal identity at the city's free
electronics recycling event on December
7th Scottdale residents can recycle
phones computers printers cameras and
more many electronics contain hazardous
materials like Mercury and Lead
disposing of them properly is crucial
when it comes to protecting Public
Health on December 14th the police
officers of Scottsdale Association is
hosting a shredded event where the
community can bring private personal and
business documents to be shredded for $5
per box or bag visit scottsdaleaz.gov
and search upcoming events for all the
details at number four are you looking
for a way to give back this holiday
season consider becoming a volunteer
with the city of Scottsdale there are
several ways you can donate your time
from opportunities with the Scottsdale
Fire Department to positions on the
city's boards or commissions
to working in the picturesque mountains
of Scottsdale's mcdal sonor and preserve
volunteers play a critical role in
supporting the city's mission to provide
simply better service for a worldclass
community last fiscal year
4,669 people served in volunteer roles
for the city they donated more than
126,000 hours which is the equivalent of
60 full-time employees to learn more
visit Scottdale a.gov and search
volunteer at number three it's time to
get Jolly Scottdale don't miss all the
holiday fun happening around town this
month mark your calendars for the
ultimate family play date and starlight
movie night on December 7th the
playground holiday jam fest on December
14th and don't miss your chance to see
the holiday lights event at mccormic
Silman Railroad Park through December
30th visit scottsdaleaz ov/ events for
details plus Oldtown Scottsdale's
month-long celebration Scott Dazzle is
taking place through December 31st it
features dozens of holiday events and
experiences from tamali making classes
to Holiday performances and photos with
Santa at the farmers market visit
scottsdazzle decom for a full list of
events at number two it's the launch of
the city's first ambulance service
starting in January the Scottsdale Fire
Department will begin its phased roll
out of the new program the first phase
will include three ambulances staffed by
a team of emergency medical technicians
and firefighter paramedics the city will
continue to partner with a third-party
service during the transition the
addition of a city-run ground ambulance
program will increase available
Personnel for medical calls which
accounted for 72% of the calls that the
Scot sale far Department Department
responded to in
2023 the program also ensures a seamless
customer focused experience and timely
completion of tasks to learn more visit
scottsdaleaz.gov and search ambulance
program and at number one we take a look
at the results of the city's November
general election Lisa barowski was
elected to her first term at
Scottsdale's mayor and Adam quasman and
MaryAnn McAllen have been elected to
their first terms on the city council
the three will take office on January
14th alongside Jan owz who was elected
to her first term on the city council
during the primary election in July
scussel voters also approved two local
ballot measures prop 490 A.1 15% City
sales tax will go into effect July 1st
2025 this Revenue will be used solely to
fund improvements maintenance and
protection of city parks and recreation
facilities and maintenance and
protection of the mcdal Sonoran preserve
also taking effect on July 1st is prop
491 an increase to Scottsdale's State
imposed expenditure limitation Baseline
almost 89% of Scottsdale voters
participated in the general election on
November 5th the highest voter turnout
in more than 40 years visit scottsdale.
vote to view the official election
results that will do it for December for
for more news and events sign up for our
city newsletters by heading to
scottsdaleaz.gov and searching
newsletter well thank you
uh city manager Jim Thompson appreciate
it and uh we are ending 2024 strong and
rolling into
2025 will be a spectacular year moving
on during tonight's meeting the council
may make a motion to recess into
executive session to obtain legal advice
on any applicable item on the agenda if
authorized uh the executive session
would be held immediately and would not
be open to the public uh however the
public meeting would resume following an
executive session also per our Council
rules of procedure citizens attending
City Council meetings shall observe the
same Rules of Order and decorum
applicable to members of the council and
City staff unauthorized remarks or
demonstrations from the audience uh such
as Applause would only delay our uh
meeting um and could result in removal
from the uh meeting by security staff
Additionally the council recently
adopted uh uh R rules that would uh
prohibit any uh um superflous
Communications during City Council
meetings or executive sessions only
devices approved for use during Council
meetings uh may be used during um the
council meetings um and um we would uh
adhere to that finally um we are going
into public comment public comment is an
opportunity reserved for Scottdale
citizens businesses owners or property
um interest to comment on non- agendized
item that are within the council's
jurisdiction advocacy C for against a
candidate or ballot measure during the
council meeting is not allowed pursuant
to state law therefore it would not be
deemed to be within our jurisdiction no
official Council action can be taken on
public comment and of course if you wish
to speak you could check in with the
clerk I see that there is one request to
speak uh that's from SE uh Steve Sutton
please come forward and and you have
three minutes sir appreciate you being
here
mayor Ortega and
Council last time I spoke to you I
mentioned an incident at the dog park
where for a couple hours in the morning
people did not notice that the small dog
area and large dog area designation
signs had been
switched dogs of all sizes were mixing
it was a time of low occupancy and more
importantly a time when due to luck
overly aggressive dogs were not
present I am using the word switched
because the signs typically are not
switched the signs are moved when one of
the three areas is closed for Turf
restoration when that happens it is very
noticeable this incident is an example
of the phenomenon known as sign
blindness these two designation signs
are on the same location on the
intergate
of the areas are the same size and color
and have only onew
difference they are so similar and
familiar they cause sign
blindness but that's only part of the
reason for the switch not being noticed
the other factor that contributed to the
switch not being noticed is that there
are too many signs in the same
location this caused an effect known as
cluster sign
blindness on the dog park area signs
pardon me on the dog park entry Gates
there are three types of signs entry
designation and operational hours these
are all located on the upper half of the
gate location these signs never changes
they are so similar that they are
essentially become colored shapes rather
than messages that are
read when the new passive dog area and
active dog area designation signs are
created they should be very different in
matters of color size and shape from
what is currently used in order to
minimize sign blindness due to familiar
and they should be installed in a manner
that minimizes cluster sign blindness
the area designation sign should be only
signs occupying the upper half of the
entry Gates that is above the solid
metal plate dividing the upper and lower
portions of the gates the entry and
operational signs should be in the low
upper portion of the lower half of the
gates thank you very much for your time
and your
consideration thank you
sir therefore I will now close public
comment please note that item number
18a uh which is the audit committee
recommendation for the environmental
advisory commission Sunset review was
added to the agenda on November 26 2024
and requires a separate vote to remain
on the agenda um I move to um have item
number 18a
held
today second second we have a motion of
second please record your
vote and I will note that councilwoman
Littlefield is
remote councilwoman Littlefield are you
there we will catch up with you a little
later in the
meeting next we will move on to consent
agenda items um 1-
18a um and um all of the consent agenda
items have a full file and uh would also
be open to public comment um if there's
in fact I would like to have um item
number 15 related to the Oldtown uh text
Amendment change uh move to the regular
agenda um are there any other requests
from
Council okay seeing none I do notice
that um there is a speaker for item
number 15 uh Jenifer biffer so we will
uh bring her forward during the um
presentation of the regular um agenda
item uh do I have a motion on consent
agenda items 1 through 188 uh mayor
there's a speaker for item 18a is that
on the consent except
for Yes except for item
15 okay I I motion to approve um second
so we have a motion to approve consent
agenda items one through 14 and then 16
through 18a please record your
vote and I will call on Council
Littlefield councilwoman Littlefield
we'll catch up with you on this uh as we
move on to regular
agenda
items there is also a u uh well at this
point all the consent agenda items were
approved and we will Ex move to the
regular agenda beginning with item
number
15 and then we'll go to 19 and
20 thank you for your patience and
congratulations as we move forward on uh
with the consent agenda items
good evening mayor city council my name
is Katie Poler and I'm here to present
2A
2024 which is the downtown district
health and fitness studio text Amendment
the request in front of you today is to
adopt ordinance number
4654 to amend the zoning ordinance
number
455 Article 5 Section
530004 which is the downtown district
subdistricts use regulations to allow
health and fitness Studios as a
permitted land use in the downtown core
subdistrict the subject site or will be
often referred to as the Catalyst site
because this is an applicant initiated
text amendment is on the southwest
corner of North Marshall way and East
Third Avenue the area in red is the
downtown core
boundary here's a closer look at the
subject site it's currently home to a
salon and the proposed tenant spacee for
the fitness studio is currently vacant
it's surrounded by other commercial uses
like like restaurants Galleries and
Retail here are the proposed code
changes so there are five subdistricts
in the downtown and currently three of
them permit the health and fitness
studio by right so the change here would
be that in the downtown core also known
as the type one that health and fitness
studio is permitted by right with two
land use
limitations the limitations are are that
the first one is the tenant area is
limited to 3,000 square ft and that was
done for two reasons the context of the
downtown core is small and compact so
it's to meet that character as well as
it aligns with the parking ordinance
which also has a limit of 3,000 square
ft for health and fitness studio in the
downtown area after that square footage
the parking is increased in terms the
ratio so that was done on purpose to
align it with that and reduce
impacts the second land use limitation
related to health and fitness Studios
being allowed is that all health and
fitness activities shall take place
inside the building and this is to avoid
conflicts with cars and pedestrians and
just general Traffic
Safety just to discuss parking for a
minute because it was brought up at
Planning Commission
um there are numerous ways to meet
parking requirements downtown there can
be parking stalls on the parcel um
remote parking agreements can be used as
well as in Loop credits and currently
the subject site if this text Amendment
were approved the health and fitness
studio would increase the requirement of
the site to 21 spaces now there are
currently 18 spaces provided on the site
so that's a deficit of three spaces the
applicant is aware of this deficit and
they're going to pursue three spaces via
the inl um parking credits to meet that
requirement and just to note um staff
would be making sure that happens before
they would get any kind of building
permit so that's when we would ensure
that
occurs um also you can see here that
there's a snippet from the parking
ordinance where it limits the fitness
studio to 3,000 square ft
with a ratio of 1 to
300 and that's also the same parking
ratio as restaurants in the downtown
area as typical restaurants is also 1 to
300 so just for some context of other
land uses that are currently allowed and
nearby in terms of Outreach the city and
the applicant have done notification of
1,250 ft and notified interested parties
the applicant has held two open houses
and there were two attendees at the open
houses there have been legal ads and web
postings and we did receive two phone
calls with concerns regarding
parking that concludes staff
presentation the applicant is here to
present and we're both here to answer
questions thank you and the applicant
will come forward
good evening mayor and council members
um I am here to talk about the text
Amendment for the land use of health and
fitness studios in the downtown core um
peol is actually the fitness studio that
we would love to open in Oldtown
Scottdale this specific um Fitness is
functional fitness and it is a more of a
small
boutique uh group class uh
setting
this means that we're able to really
function in a smaller space like the
3,000 square foot uh limitation that we
have in the text amendment in the
proposed text
Amendment and it also promotes a very
it's very easy with this um method and
with that small close proximity of group
classes to really build a community and
to add to the character of that exist in
old right now and in the area uh that we
are looking to open our business
in and it also um we believe it will
really promote and um a healthy and
active lifestyle that is one of the
things that I enjoy most about Scottdale
as a resident I love that um we have
active walkable communities especially
in the Oldtown area with the
residential element there along with the
retail and personal care so that we're
able to go and you know have a live work
play environment and
um right now with the businesses that
are in the downtown core and nearby the
building that we would like to open our
business in we're very synergistic it's
very much um our clientele will uh
really bring more uh traffic walkable
traffic not not parking traffic but uh
to be able to um also promote and
sustain the uh other businesses that
surround us the galleries the beauty
salons
the uh restaurants and clothing
boutiques that are nearby um and will uh
they'll really benefit they're very
complimentary to each
other uh next slide is about
I'm not sure if I do I click it I
apologize thank you um this is just uh
more information on the traffic that um
KD has already uh shared with
the with everyone um in addition to the
18 parking um spaces on site we also
have uh this location is lucky in that
it has a lot of um street parking as
well so we have 14 on the street and
then there's also a 4minute walk to free
parking at fth Avenue
garage um we also are very close to the
canal so again promoting that
walkability of Oldtown and that healthy
active lifestyle people can run and bike
on the canal and get to our studio very
easily and there's plenty of parking or
uh bike um racks for safekeeping of
their bikes if they wish to do that
um also for our specific uh
business we do have uh times for our
studio and our classes that we're able
to really regulate when the traffic is
heaviest um because we are scheduled
classes it's not come and go as you
please and then the occupancy of um our
space and the studio because of the
fitness method and how it is taught to
the parti partipants you have a a 3X3
mat so it really spaces out everyone in
the group class so the maximum number of
attendees in our classes will be 21 with
one
instructor and then out in the uh
reception and Retail area there's going
to be one to two sales associates um at
any given time so really for our
specific use in this building we would
expect no more than 24 or 25 uh people
in the space at any
time and that is
all are there any questions no um well
thank you we what is your turnover
between
classes if you have 20 coming and 20
going uh what's the time period that
they're pretty much well we uh we will
deal with increments in um see it's
going to be 20 minutes between each
class so each class is 55 minutes and
then we won't start the next one until
the 15 has passed after the five minutes
of the um participants leaving the
class and is this part of a franchise uh
operation so um there may be other
franchises similar to yours interested
in these areas um yes we've actually
just uh another fr
opened the first peol in North Scottdale
uh two weeks
ago okay well we will um Reserve other
questions but uh we we'll move to public
comment uh Jennifer biffer will like to
speak you have three minutes please come
forward State your place of residence
and
continue hi uh mayor and councel I'm
Jennifer biffer I live in Scottdale and
I'm actually uh part owner of the
building in question and the businesses
that are in the building um the salon
and the med spa and we are 100% uh
behind peall uh joining us in the
building the way their schedule works is
the opposite of our schedule so we don't
see any parking issues um and we think
they would be a great fit in the
community um I constantly have people
coming in the front door asking me where
they can go take a yoga class or work
out or find a great coffee and and you
know get their ring tightened up and I'm
sending them across the street to
Cornelius Hollander or up the street to
Shmo and I have nowhere to send them
today you know to get a good workout or
to enjoy uh all the wonderful things
Scottdale has to offer and um I think
the one thing this area is is lacking is
you know somewhere to go make yourself
feel healthy and and alleviate some of
the stress of everyday life that we have
going on in the world right
now good thank you uh does anyone one
sorry one more thing we're also um fully
committed to the extra three parking
spaces that we need to purchase as the
owners of the building
so or the the inl parking or however
that
works good um vice mayor Graham did you
have a question um I'm just not a
question for the applicant sorry mayor
just just I'm just going to make a brief
statement so so I'll actually to return
it if there's any questions for the
applicant all right yes could the
applicant come forward and please
will continue
do did you have a question vice mayor
not for the applicant I just going to
make a general I was going to defer if
my if my colleagues had any questions
for the applicant yeah I I would say
you're
um you're familiar with that area it's a
small part of Oldtown yes and um there
this restriction has been in place just
like we don't uh have uh drive-throughs
in Oldtown we prefer people uh you know
Park and partake in several things um um
I when I asked you about your turnover
and uh do you have
a that membership and parking
situation uh seems to be more difficult
uh for this area I'm very familiar with
the area so I have some deeper concerns
about why um
why this exception becomes a a um text
Amendment and therefore would open a
Floodgate Of other um uh franchises that
want to come in even though they're
3,000 square foot limit uh somebody
could take the next Suite as a regular
one and then and there may be four or
five U franchises there and I think that
would really change the character of our
special real re ret retail area so
that's that's the reason why I pulled
this I'm actually not in favor of it
this is a small area that uh maintains a
sort of a a walk and shop eat and Shop
walk and so forth and I'm concerned that
U many national franchises will start
coming in here and then uh changing the
entire complexion of that retail
especially retail area um so I thought I
just mentioned that since you're you're
you're there and then um any other
questions for the applicant at this
point then I'll thank you we have I
would um I would just like did you have
any yeah yeah um I would like to say
that I I understand your concern about
other franchises coming in and sort of
saturating that small area because it
doesn't it's you know right there in the
core and um I do understand that concern
I think with the limitations of the
3,000 square fet but also how that
aligns with the current downtown core
parking restrictions for fitness and the
other in the you know three other
subsections that do allow it I think
that will really uh you know focus on
more boutique style Fitness and um sort
of a
one-of-a-kind Fitness uh experience that
people will have it's not very easy to
make another kind of franchise very
successful when you have to have uh
larger classes or like a crossfit where
you need kind of the indoor outdoor huge
equipment a lot of things this is very
much all of our equipment is you know
grab and go you can do it at home you
can do it anywhere um and so really it's
just this mat that we lay down and it's
really the functional fitness um and the
method and the science behind it that
makes it really unique and so I think
having that those restrictions
on any other Fitness that would like to
come in there it really Narrows the the
window of those that would have any
success in in such a small
space okay thank you um I see vice mayor
Graham and councilwoman caputi wish to
speak thank you mayor I share the
mayor's concerns on this I as I was
studying the packet here you know it's
um the um downtown park downtown has a
parking
problem and
um there I believe there's a reason that
gyms aren't currently allowed there and
so I'm where I'm going with this is I'm
on the side of respecting that we know
that um gyms have you know they're not
especially down the evenings uh but it's
you know it's kind of come and go but
it's they do have very intense parking
demands
and
um gyms like this don't cater this is a
tourism area Walkin shop like the mayor
said this is attracting tourists and
visitors and gyms tend to more cater to
locals and um I think that's something
else to consider when you think about
this from a uh you know concerns I have
as far as precedenti affecting the area
how is this precedence going to affect
it I respect the applicant's Venture a
business venture and commitment to to
the heal healthy lifestyle um but um I'm
not going to be in support of this thank
you
mayor okay councilwoman
caputi maybe a couple questions for the
applicant but my thoughts are that this
is not actually a gem that it's kind of
a high-end yoga studio and so you've got
a handful of folks who are going to use
the
studio right I don't know where the
applicant went but I imagine that your
customers are going to be a handful of
folks uh mornings mostly and
evenings um you know off hours from when
the demand would be for most businesses
in the area you're also I I just have a
couple of questions if you wouldn't mind
um the building that exists there's
other businesses in there is what I'm
hearing as well so I mean the logic
would be that you've got folks who are
working in that building you've got
people who are working in uh adjacent
buildings they're going to park once
maybe do a workout maybe go Gra grab a
coffee go to work I mean I think that's
what we're trying to get in our downtown
core this walkability liveability the
opportunity to take an exercise class
and then move on with their day I can't
imagine another use in there that would
be less intensive I mean if it ends up
being a restaurant I imagine there would
be more people using the facility in the
parking right not less so there other
businesses right that would be taking
advantage yes very much so and I mean
the yes it has a lot of tourists that uh
frequent that area but there's also a
lot of residents and those um the
Waterfront is close by there's a a lot
of um apartment style living and it's
also um something that would cater to uh
tourism because it's a national brand it
is something it's more of a event if I
can give an example there are a lot of
cele ation that happen my ideal girls
day would be go take a gym class maybe
go get your nails done go shop around
and that is literally everything in that
corner you can go start your day with
something really healthy you can grab a
coffee you can get your hair done do a
little Med Spa you can go grab lunch and
then go shopping on Fifth Avenue it's
it's almost perfect and it does bring
that additional element to really
promote a healthy lifestyle that we that
we honor here in Scotts and we do have
um parking issues downtown but as you
pointed out the Fifth Avenue garage
which is regularly empty is right there
I can't imagine at 7 in the morning when
someone's taking an exercise class or at
s at night uh you're going to have a
lack of parking and I'm I'm sorry but
when you come to do exercise a four
minute walk is not necessarily a major
issue so that seems weird to me I also
don't share the fear that suddenly our
downtown area is going to be overwhelmed
with um gyms desperate to open up there
I just I I don't have that fear so um
I'm in support I think it's again we're
a Blue Zone City we're trying to
encourage this kind of a lifestyle um I
don't have an issue thank you thank you
also could you please State your full
name and the name of the business please
just for the record here yes um my name
is Whitney Goodwin the business is
pvolve we run it that's our DBA but our
business is the lifestyle Collective
okay I see council member Durham and
councilwoman Whitehead want to speak
remember we're dealing with a text
amendment that would allow uh uh you
know weight machines and other kinds of
uh outcomes here square feet excuse me
and and I mean that's really there are
other locations for that for reasons and
um it's more than just one particular
particular uh User it's it's it is a u
consideration U for this uh particular
area member um Durham and then
councilwoman
white thank you mayor um as I understand
it this is only a
3,000 foot facility so it's completely
different from the normal health club
with lots of weight machines and
bicycles and
and treadmills and and things like that
is that correct that's correct so yeah I
don't I don't see the problem with this
I think it's it's a good idea to have
these types of facilities around town
and um given the small size 3,000 ft uh
square feet I don't I I don't see this
um as an issue so I'll I'll be able to
support it thank you
mayor Whitehead
so I agree it's a lovely idea I think
that the problem many of us have is text
Amendments have unintended consequences
so I think what probably a lot of us
would like to see is a way of moving
forward without a text Amendment but I
won't support a text Amendment because
that does add a broad swath across our
downtown but I do like the concept and
we are Blue Zone City and we do a lot in
uh you know to honor that and to uphold
that those values
um I will call on uh councilwoman uh
Littlefield if she's uh she's remote and
um maybe a little under the weather but
we're just want to uh give her that
opportunity um okay thank you back to
vice mayor Graham and then we'll take a
oh go ahead is that you
Kathy yes thank you um I I agree with uh
what you said mayor I think this have a
broader um concept A broader swap on
result than just this particular issue
and I'm very hesitant to open the door
on this thank
you okay vice mayor Graham then we'll
move to the
vote mayor I'll move to uh reject
ordinance number
4654 I'll second that we motion to deny
um case number uh 12 uh 15 um and a
second please record your
vote a yes is a
no councilwoman
Littlefield no
the the motion is to
deny you might need to explain to just
to clarify that the motion is to deny
this use so if you say yes it would deny
the
use
okay yes okay um the motion carries five
to two and um we will move on to the
next uh regular AG agenda
item I vote yes thank you um we will
proceed with item number 19 kanteti
Commons also known as Sundown Commons uh
case number two GP
2023 and 6 ZN 2023 and number three da
2023 uh our presenter is uh KY Poler the
senior um planner and then we'll hear
from the applicant please
proceed hi again my name is Katie Poler
and I'm here to present 2gp 2023 6en
2023 and 3 da 2023 called Cante Commons
also known as Sundown
Commons the site is located at the
northeast corner of East Shay Boulevard
and North 70th
Street here's a closer look at the site
in yellow it's currently home to some
existing commercial buildings on the
west side which are proposed to remain
in place and also a commercial building
on the east side which is proposed to be
demolished for the new dwelling units to
the north are existing apartments and
then to the east south and west are
existing commercial shopping centers
the existing General plan land use
designation on the site is
commercial and the existing zoning on
the site is
C2C P4 which stands for Central Business
conditional parking district and it was
rezoned to that in the 80s to allow for
the commercial shopping
center there are four requests in front
of you today the first is to adopt
resolution
13137 for a minor General plan Amendment
to the city of Scot ster General plan
2035 to change the land use designation
from commercial to mixed use
neighborhoods the second is to adopt
ordinance number
4639 for a zoning District map Amendment
from Central Business conditional
parking District also known as C2C P4
zoning to planned unit development plan
share development overlay PUD PSD zoning
including approval of a development plan
with amended development standards for a
new mixed use development consisting of
approximately
79,2 square ft² of existing commercial
buildings and a new three-story
approximately 345,000 ft multif family
residential building with approximately
196
units the third is to adopt resolution
number
13138 declaring cassan Commons minor
General plan Amendment and rezoning
development plan as a public record and
the last is to adopt resolution
13139 authorizing development agreement
number
20248
4-z so the proposed General plan land
use designation is mixed use
neighborhoods and the proposed zoning is
PUD PSD
it's important to note that as this case
has gone through the public hearing
process there was an update at drb which
was back in March um the applicant
updated the scope of the case to
eliminate the fourth floor so it was
originally four stories and it's now
three stories and that resulted from um
240 units being proposed down to 196 so
there was a loss of 44
units um to ensure this is complied with
there is a stipulation regarding
Building height as well as density and
the building height um stipulation is in
front of you which limits the building
to three stories and 42 ft in
height here's the applicant site plan
you can see the existing commercial
buildings on the west side of the site
and the new residential buildings on the
east side so the new residential
building is three stories and has 96
units which is 22 dwelling units per
acre it has two underground parking
garage layer levels and the existing
commercial building also has two
underground parking garage
levels access to the site remains
unchanged along sheay 70th and
Saro here's the north half of the
landscape plan there is Landscaping
along the front edge along saaro drive
and along 70th as well as there
additional trees being planted in those
Frontage areas that need a little extra
help as well as the parking lot
landscape islands in the commercial
shopping center those are going to have
plants and trees added to them as well
and then there are new six foot wide
sidewalks adjacent to the residential
building that provide additional
connections to the existing commercial
buildings to the West as well as some
new camp canopies over those
connections the South half of this
landscape plan would be would have sheay
along the south side and there's um some
new Landscaping along that Frontage as
well as a new 8ot wide sidewalk along
the entire Shea
Frontage here's the open space plan um
the Pud ordinance requires 10% of the
site to be open space and there is 25%
being provided that's along the street
frontages and also the existing
Courtyard on the commercial side and the
new Courtyard within the residential
building I told you that this has a 10c
here are the elevations um the north
elevation faces Saro and it's three
stories at 42 ft and the South elevation
faces Shea
Boulevard and then here on top is the
East Elevation facing the alley and the
west elevation which faces interior to
the shopping center and on the east side
you can also see um that step back or
the you know gradual levels of the
building due to the residential that's
to the
north here are some perspectives this is
a long shap
Boulevard here's another perspective
along Shay you can see that new 8ot
sidewalk this is internal to the
shopping
[Music]
center and this is on the North side
facing Saro as well as the bottom image
is facing the
alley the applicant is proposing to
amend um two
standards the first is to add the word
minimum in front of the average setback
so they don't have to meet the exact
average setback this allows the setback
to be even greater and they're complying
with that along all the street
frontages and the Second Amendment is
for minor encroachments from the
existing commercial building because
that was developed in the 80s and under
different zoning there's some minor
areas of the wall and the roof that
encroach into the um envelope so this is
to allow for those existing
encroachments just some key items that
the fourth story was removed and the
unit count was reduced from 240 to
196 conformance with the Pud
criteria um reinvestment in the existing
shopping center this is adding dwelling
units to this particular site there are
increased pedestrian connections both
internally and
externally um this case did receive a 60
recommendation from the airport advisory
commission as well as the development
review board where that stipulation on
height was added
a 61 recommendation from Planning
Commission back in April um the case was
continued twice earlier this year and we
have also received um comments of
opposition and support and you should
have received a packet of support
letters yesterday that was
delivered that concludes staff
presentation but the applicant is also
here to present thank you well thank you
we'll move on to the applicant
mayor members of the council for your
record John Barry 6750 East camac Road
in
Scottdale why the name Cante
Commons it is an important part of our
history in Scottsdale and Cante is a
historical of such historical import
that it really deserves additional
visibility in our community now I know
many of you on the council are very very
familiar with paos salari and and Cante
but Cante is named after the home and
Studio of an Italian architect who
immigrated to the United States to work
with Frank Lloyd Wright at Tes and
West and after some period of time with
Mr Wright Paulo Solari the architect
started his own studio and he started it
about half mile away from Scottsdale
Road and what was then in still is the
town of Paradise Valley hos lari died in
200 fairly recently and he moved
originally to the Cante location in
1956 now I said that Cante is an
important part of Scottsdale's
history and Scottsdale celebrates the
legacy of Pao salari and Cante they've
named a street in Pao salar's honor at
the waterfront and the city created the
icon IC Solari pedestrian bridge and
Plaza in a very visible location on
Scottdale Road and I noted with interest
that in the five minute video that you
had this location was identified in that
video I also noted today when I went to
the city's homepage which I do with
great regularity on on the city's
website and I know this is hard to see
but this is actually a nighttime image
of the Solari bridge and Scott Dazzle
and this is the location of the city's
very successful and important Scott
Dazzle
celebration again at the Cante and
salari Plaza and
park now Cante is also important for
tourism in our community and this is a
quote from the city or from scottsd
experience's website now cassan is on
the Arizona registry of historic places
it was built in the mid-50s to late 60s
it's the home of Cante Originals makers
of the widely collected Artisan crafted
bronze and ceramic wind Bells first
introduced by salari in the
1950s these are made handmade at
Cante now I want you to know that these
are of such importance to the city that
cassan makes special unique Bells which
are given to the volunteers in
Scottsdale that serve on boards and
commissions as a thank you for their
service to our community given by the
city to them I would also have you note
can you think of the hundreds of times s
you've walked into the Kaa and in the
back corner of the Kea is Apollo salari
windbell a very large piece of art
public art in our most public place in
the Kea for our
city now how meaningful is Cante to our
community this is a quote from the
general plan voter approv General plan
and it says develop Partnerships with
groups such as Frank ly Wright
Foundation but it also specifically
spefically mentions the Cante foundation
with whom we are collaborating this
evening the general plan and its voter
approved guide for us for future land
use this is a graphic from the general
plan and you will note that the city
perceives and its citizens perceive
Scottdale and kante's relationship as a
cultural Jewel and very important Cante
is the only cultural resource in our
community for tourists and residents
that is outside of the boundaries of the
city of scottown Al be at a couple
thousand feet but is not located within
the city but it's so important we have a
park a bridge a street and an identified
uh in the general plan that this is
important to our community now how is
Cante common celebrating this history
and this Legacy of of Cante and Paulo
Solari well first off we're also going
to implement the general plans call for
public art outside of Oldtown as well so
one of the things we will be doing is
installing an iconic work by Palos solar
Cante on Shea Boulevard which will
certainly increase awareness and
visibility of Cante and poo
Solari additionally furthering the
general plan's call to create
Partnerships with Cante and let me get
you oriented at the bottom is Shea
Boulevard this is the entrance into the
mixed use Center on the right is the
ground floor of the proposed residential
and to the left up here is the balance
of the existing
shopping we will be providing to Cante
at no cost to them Prime retail space
and signage at the entrance to this
shopping center it will have its own
outside entrance it will provide them
with retail and exhibition space it will
introduce Cante visitors and tourists to
Cass s which I have to stress is only a
mile away from the site it is not
located in North Scottsdale or Southern
Scottsdale it's a mere one mile away
from this site we're also going to be
providing Flex space for classrooms and
Hands-On art creation because Cante
today has no air condition space for
their partnership with the schools where
they provide opportunities for students
of all ages to experience art and
creation of Art in our community
now let's talk a little bit about the
details of our zoning case we did as
staff noted eliminate the entire fourth
floor which is which you'll see in red
here you'll also see in red along shap
Boulevard where the building used to be
before the drb um suggested that we lose
the fourth floor and the result is we
also moved the building even further
away from Shea Boulevard than it was
previously now these occurred at the
request of councilwoman janick who
chaired the drb hearing that day
um now what are the result of
this a long sha Boulevard on the left is
the existing condition for our
pedestrians in the area on the right
will be the proposed condition and the
result of uh the improvements and
enhancements for pedestrians and people
who drive along long
Shay staff mentioned in passing that
there will be more open space on the
site than otherwise requireed re ired
it's
152% more open space than required and
most of that open space is around the
perimeter of the site and also
importantly along Shea Boulevard
particularly since we moved the building
even further back from Shea Boulevard
than it was originally now let's talk
about that setback from Shea Boulevard
for the building for a moment at the top
of this graph you will note and staff
noted that this property has existing
Zoning for commercial C2 commercial Zone
Zing a three-story building is permitted
by right without ever coming back to the
city council or Planning Commission C2
zoning allows a three-story building 20
feet away from Shea Boulevard what are
we proposing a three-story building but
it'll be 401 fet away from Shea
Boulevard what about water use now
recall that again this site has the
ability by right to utilize and tenant
the facility with uses such as
restaurants and Retail compared to those
uses this residential use will achieve a
62% reduction in water
use what about Urban heat island impacts
on the left you will see an existing
areial and you can see a lot of asphalt
there it's 43% of the site on the right
you will see the after condition if this
project is approved and you will see
that we've reduced the amount of asphalt
to 14% on the site a 67 % reduction I do
want to note however that we have not
forgotten those that drive to the area
you will see in red these areas that
continue to be surface parking I'd say
somewhere between 40 and 60 spaces that
are still available for folks that want
to go to the retail space or need to
park in close proximity to uh the
facility or use it for uh retail uses
mayor members of the
council vice mayor in summary
this will be an investment of $90
million and I think what we all
acknowledge is a struggling retail area
in our
community we will Revitalize and
underutilize property and promote
long-term economic sustainability
particularly in this area and there are
a lot of small businesses some of whom
you will hear from today we eliminated
the fourth floor which resulted in
reductions in height and density
I think this is a critical point in the
age of Amazon in that aerial photo that
staff showed earlier and I know all of
you know this intersection well this is
an area that has a ton of small
businesses and in the age of Amazon
retail is struggling particularly in
this area and I know some of you the
mayor in particular know the history of
some of these two corners about these
types of small businesses in the area
the CVS just south of this along
Scottdale Road closed some time ago and
is not yet been
repurposed you now have 75 letters of
support from area businesses supporting
bringing new rooftops new bodies new
people that can walk to and use the
services of these small businesses in
the area we've talked about reducing the
urban heat Isis in effect by eliminating
over an acre of
asphalt we're collaborating with the
nonprofit cassan Foundation as called
for in the general plan we'll be
installing iconic art on Shea Boulevard
to raise awareness and visibility for
the Cante Foundation we're going to
provide free of charge dedicated exhibit
and retail space for Cante and we
provide air condition which will be very
welcome space for them for educational
purposes as you know we're providing
underground parking which is not
inexpensive to do we are reducing water
consumption by 62% % we are supporting
the general pl's call to support tourism
and the Arts there will be a public bike
station on Saro drive there will be no
short-term rentals that's provided for
as we always do in our development
agreements we're going to replace and
widen the sidewalk on Shea
Boulevard now my client has a history of
collaborating with Chappel High School
which is about a third of a mile away
from here I said a third of a mile we
will be providing annual one month free
rent for teachers at this location we
been providing annual one-month free
rent for a parent or parents who have a
student enrolled at chaperel high
school now I want you to know that the
vacancy rate in this area for multif
family is
2% the rents are estimated at this
location with this particular project to
be 18% less than other new constru
ruction we talked about open space and
the amount of open space that we're
providing
finally we have a planning staff
recommendation for approval a unanimous
recommendation of approval from the
airport advisory commission the drb
provided unanimous recommendation of
approval with councilwoman Janik and
planning commissioner Gonzalez serving
in their capacities and we have a
recommendation of approval from the
Planning Commission and I put a thank
you slide up which has has an image of
the salari uh Park and Plaza and Bridge
uh located at the waterfront and on
Scottdale Road mayor members of the
community members of the council I think
you have some public comment I'm happy
to answer questions now or wait until
after public comment thank you standby
thank you U moving on to public comment
uh we have nine speakers requesting to
speak and I will announce five at a time
so you could prepare and as you come
forward we have have uh David Turnbull
Adam Weissman Caitlyn stum KJ Hoffman
and Beth
malvestiti so if you could start with
David Turnbull then Adam Weissman um
kind of be prepared to step forward and
then Caitlyn strum the stum excuse
me good evening um my name's David
Turnbull and I am the newest executive
director president CEO whatever you'd
like to call me of the cosanti
foundation and I have been in this job
now for three months so I have inherited
this project which I'm very delighted
about because it was um put together by
a predecessor of mine but aligns
perfectly with development objectives
that um uh we uh and the board um share
uh notably uh to really um enhance the
educational program of the cosanti
foundation which was established as a
501c3 in 1965 signed um and the
documents were signed by collee saleri
Paulo salar's wife um and the when I
came into this job I would say that the
most important thing from my point of
view was that I felt the educational
purpose of the foundation um had become
seriously diminished since salari died
in
2013 and now one of the critical factors
in relation to delivering educational
programs at cosanti and our Co Santi is
that as we all know with anthropogenic
climate change summertime temperatures
have increased considerably and even at
cosanti this summer uh in August in in
in almost Subterranean buildings It was
95 Dees to 100° Fahrenheit
inside um which meant that it was
intolerable um and um some of the
buildings are bordering on uninhabitable
in the summer months
at the time when it is critical that
we're able to deliver educational
workshops uh unto the widest possible uh
community and so um the opportunity to
have air conditioned space in Scottsdale
in a city center location approximate to
Coan is
extraordinary um and also to um display
the work of our Artisans which I believe
should be celebrated widely and is
worldwide um um on on Shay um is is uh
incredibly important so I'm grateful for
the opportunity to to continue the work
that was put in place by my
predecessors um and um I look forward to
uh to working with uh the developers on
the project in the future thank you
thank you Mr Turnbull please give us
your address your place of residence um
6433 dou tree Ranch Road um which is the
ganti location location um for practical
purposes I live in the earth house thank
you uh Adam Weissman and Caitlyn stum uh
followed by KJ Hoffman again please uh
state your name and place of residence
for the
record hi my name is Adam wisman I live
at 9990 North Scottsdale Road uh really
close to the proposed development here
um I'm also a small business owner I do
uh Residential Technology consultations
and having something new units in the
area like this definitely helps my
business out for sure not only that it's
also uh one of my concerns in the area
is safety and having something developed
in that spot would really help out I
like to walk my dog around and having
something like this is definitely
something that I would be you know
excited to see so um you know the other
thing is I've lived in this area for
about nine years now and my mom lives
about a mile away from me and having an
opportunity to move into someplace
that's nicer than the place that I Live
Now uh which is still from the Clinton
Administration to something brand new
with underground Park and everything
would be really cool so thank you very
much thank you uh Caitlyn stum KJ
Hoffman and then
Beth good evening uh my name is Caitlyn
and I live at 698 e swio Drive here in
Scottdale uh just down the street from
where cosanti commin would be developed
um I'm here tonight to show support for
this project as a Scottdale resident I'm
excited to see this new development
coming to our community not only will it
provide more much-needed housing but it
will also contribute to the growth of
our local economy by supporting small
businesses around the area this is the
kind of project that will keep our
community thriving both now and in the
future in particular I think this
project will be a huge benefit to the
nearby medical offices in the hospital I
currently work full-time as a CT
technologist as someone who works in
healthcare I can speak to the growing
need for rental housing for healthcare
workers having a place to live close to
work is crucial for us and I believe
that cosanti Commons will help address
that Gap another exciting aspect of this
project is the partnership with kosan
it's not just about providing homes it's
also about creating a space for
creativity and lifelong learning with
classes and workshops available for
people of all ages this development will
be an opportunity for the community to
come together learn new skills and
engage with the Arts so once again I
strongly support the cosanti commons
project I believe it's a win for the
people of Scottdale for the local
businesses and for the future of our
city thank
you thank you KJ
Hoffman Beth uh Melvis stei and then uh
lee
Cil
cile good evening mayor and Council my
name is KJ Hoffman I live at 1 uh 8
excuse me 8108 East Welden Avenue um
I've been in Scottsville for about the
past eight years since
2016 um over the past eight years I've
seen Scottdale grow rapidly also just
Maricopa County in general is
consistently one of the top counties in
the uh United States for growth as they
continue to grow um more and more
residential uh uh excuse me residential
uh uh uh housing is needed in the area
I'm also a uh owner of a mortgage
brokerage locally um and I see
consistently people that aren't able to
get
uh approved for a mortgage or it's just
not the right time and they need a
little bit more time for various reasons
um as growth continues to go um I
believe that this is a great project and
I fully support the cosanti uh project
because it allows people to be able to
have newer more affordable housing while
they're continuing to be able to try and
purchase a home so I believe that it's a
it's a great and exciting opportunity
thank you thank you we have uh Beth mvti
Lee kofile uh Nica uh cisic and Braxton
Palmer thank you mayor thank you Council
um my name is Beth malvesti I live at
8239 East Kim Drive in
Scottdale um I am a native was born and
red Terence scale um so I've been here
for 60 years I've seen a lot of growth
over the decades um mcor MC Ranch was a
uh desert that I used to ride my horses
in back in the day um I'm here to
strongly support uh castani Commons um
for several
reasons one of them is um I think that
it's a um a neighborhood that needs
support for small businesses um because
there is a lot of them around there and
with this new Community I think that
will um provide that um level of
walkability to go to these small
businesses um one thing I'm surprised no
one touched on is this project will
provide um 10% Workforce um housing
units which is about 20 units of the
196 and um that's a big thing um so that
will
provide housing for our teachers our
firefighters our first
responders um he did touch on the um you
know chapparel teachers and whatnot so I
think that this um is a great new
development with a unique concept so I'm
I'm in strong support of it thank
you thank you uh Lee cofal and then uh
Nicola cisk Braxton Palmer and then
Simon mesgar
hi there uh Le Lee CTI uh addess is on
file um I just wanted to say when I was
reviewing this uh I just generally am
always in support of mixed use housing
and building I would I'm fortunate
enough to live near someplace where I
can walk to go get uh some supplies and
stuff but uh I think the idea of having
a area where you can walk to go get go
get your coffee or eggs or a wrench or
nails or whatever you need is fantastic
as you know I'm on the Transportation uh
commission as well and I hear that and I
hear traffic concerns a lot uh when I
come here and I think mixed use is
probably the best way to address that
especially after everything else I've
heard here
about um about how there's going to be
incentives for Workforce and parents and
teachers and that and that will reduce
the need for these 290 new uh units or
sorry one one 190 190 sorry for those
190 units uh for for the people living
there to have to drive and continue to
contribute to the congestion that that
uh so many people here are concerned
about um I you know the the idea of
extra shade extra sidewalk would be
fantastic uh one of the things that uh
for me personally I live in South
Scottdale but my dentist is right across
the street from where this is going to
be and uh there is a bike path that
connects to the rest of our Network
there which again would allow people to
get get to and from that area easily
also of course the Scottsdale bus runs
up and down Scottdale Road um and so I
just generally am
in I'm I'm always in favor of mixed use
and for all the other stuff here I think
these the people who are putting this
together doesn't seem like the greedy
developers that we often hear about and
L lampooned but these are people who
want
to build something be part of the
community and make Scottsdale better and
H our Legacy that we find so important
uh that makes Scottsdale such a
wonderful place to live so thank you
thank thank you uh Nicola cisk then we
have Braxton Palmer uh Simon mesgar and
uh Miriam
Shakur good evening mayor and council
members uh my name is Nicholas Sisk I
live at 7043 North Videl Elemental in
Scottsdale uh I was also born and raised
here lived here my whole life went all
the public schools did the whole shebang
um I'm here in support of the Cante
development
um as you guys know there is a very nice
shopping plaza right next door um a
semi-frequent visitor of the herbox
restaurant there uh unfortunately
there's a lot of vacancy in that area
and the east side of the the site is a
little bit of a eyes sore and I believe
that putting this beautiful uh multif
family uh development together would
just make sense in this location and I'm
in full support so I thank you
thank you Braxton Palmer and Simon
mesgar good evening mayor and city
council my name is braxon Palmer and I
live at um I live here in Scottdale at
8647 East Cambridge Avenue tonight I am
here to voice my support for the cassan
commons project project having lived in
Scottsdale my whole life I'm very
familiar with this intersection and I
believe this development will add Great
Value to this
neighborhood I think this area is prime
for redevelopment and believe the
surrounding commercial and Retail
businesses need new quality residential
housing for support so they can continue
to be
successful one great feature of this
project is the Subterranean parking
garage so when you are walking or
driving by you see no cars from the
street but instead see a highquality
building and beautiful landscaping
within a mixed use environment the
proposed project will go a long way in
revitalizing this area of Scottdale and
bring quality housing to an area that
hasn't been focused for new development
for quite some time the size and design
of the project seems to be appropriate
for the area and will be a great win for
the city and its
residents in summary this project offers
many benefits to the neighborhood and
would be a great addition to this part
of Scotsdale please join me in
supporting this project thank
you thank you um we have Simon mesgar
and Miriam
Shakur hi all my name is Simon mezer and
I live at 7979 East Wilshire Drive in
Scottdale Arizona I wanted to come come
out in support of this project today
because of two main reasons the first
reason is that there's currently a
limited supply of new apartments in
central Scottdale because of the
scarcity of options in central Scottdale
rent and the overall cost of living has
become really expensive for uh for
residents basic supply and demand
economics would indicate that adding new
apartments to the area would decrease
rent for existing residents and folks
that work in the area
um and as well improve the overall cost
of living for folks the second reason I
support this project is because and it's
in a great location located right by all
the small businesses and the retail
centers within walking distance and so
all the households that will uh move to
the area will greatly benefit those
small businesses um I think we can all
agree that the health of the small
businesses in Scottdale is super
important to our community as a whole um
um again I support this project and I
thank you all for your
time thank you our last speaker is U
Miriam Maran
Shakur
Shakur thank you mayor and councel um
I'm here on behalf of the ownership of
the Safeway Shopping Center um located
on the northeast corner of Scott still
and Shay across the street from the
proposed kosan Commons project the
center has about 160,000 Square ft of
retail that includes 34 tenants many
whom are small business and restaurants
that really rely on the local area
residents as their
customers and there was a
letter that was
written by Jerry Sims owner OFA that
he'd like me to read that was sent to
the mayor and the
council dear mayor and Council I own the
commercial shopping center on the
northeast corner of Scottdale Road in
sha Boulevard that is anchored by
Safeway and I want to express my very
strong support for the proposed cassan
Commons mixed use
development our tenants include many
small businesses owned by Scott
residents bringing customers within
walking distance of these businesses
will be a welcome addition I hope you
will vote to support this project
sincerely Jerry
Sims well thank you very much uh with
that I will uh close public comment uh
coming forward is the uh applicants
representative um John Barry I also have
requests to speak from council member
Durham and Council
Janik so did you have any other uh other
things to add mayor vice mayor members
of the uh of the council no I would just
note it's of interest is that of those
75 letters you heard some folks that
sign those letters speak uh to you and
some that didn't but that list of
businesses includes everybody from Bob
Parsons who owns three or four million
square feet of of retail in the area it
owns the sheay har the shea4 center
which is within walking distance of this
uh property Jerry Sims who owns the
Safeway Center and mom and pop
businesses the backbone I think one
speaker spoke very eloquently about the
economic health of our community really
the barometer is the health of our small
businesses um and I thought that that
was a very uh telling comment about the
importance of this type of $90 million
jumpstart uh for this area and for these
businesses this is not an area that you
see lots of new uh buildings going up um
so this will be a real shot in the arm
for these businesses and for this uh for
this area I did note with interest one
of the speakers who had been here since
1960 uh I've been here or
1962 yeah yeah so uh we moved here in
1960 so I remember some of those days uh
as well and I know some of you do as
well but uh this area has seen some
better days and we hope that they're uh
even better brighter days are ahead for
them if you are willing to support this
project mayor members of the council I'm
happy to answer any questions you may
have thank you thank you uh I'll yield
the floor to council member Durham and
then councilwoman
Janik thank you mayor um why is the
Western half of this site being rezoned
because I understand that the the
existing buildings on the western half
are are going to stay there uh but it
looks like they're in the resoning map
mayor uh council member Durham and uh
vice mayor um the reason for that is we
wanted this development this proposal to
be unified we did not want it to appear
either functionally or architecturally
as two different projects so in the
packet and in the materials that staff
presented you will see that the
architectural elements the architectural
materials uh the connectivity for
pedestrians the landscape pallet all of
those things are Unified so we wanted
that this to look like and appear like a
UniFi development and that meant
including the entire property uh in the
application we also uh learned some uh
from uh the community that there has
been some concern about um not including
a larger part of a unified uh project in
the application um so we wanted to
ensure that the existing application
encompassed all of it and that the
entire property would be subject to
these updates on uh
Landscaping um parking cross access
pedestrian connectivity so it's a
unified development the best way to
ensure that with change of ownership
over time is to have this be a unified
development so is is there going to be
updating on the units or the buildings
on the the western side then uh mayor
Ortega council member Durham vice mayor
um the short answer is not immediately
because that Western half undertook I
want to say either a 12 million or1 199
million update just a few years ago when
the owner uh the current owner purchased
that and updated the Western half that
eastern half as one of the uh speakers
noted um has been a loss cause for a a
significant period of time great thank
you
mayor councilwoman Shan thank you mayor
um I just wanted to point out that I was
on drb when this project came forward
and everyone on drb thought that the
four story architecture was phenomenal
and then I poked a hole in their bubble
I said this is like threading a needle I
walk the area there are no four-story
buildings there there are three story
buildings and I don't want to set a new
limit or a new high so I was very
pleased that the people that represented
the developer readily agreed to reduce
it two three stories instead of four I
was equally pleased they enhanced the
setbacks um which gives it a much nicer
open feel and that was without any
prodding so I feel that they have done a
lot to enhance what they're doing I feel
that the fact that the rent will be
about 18% less than the existing rent in
the area is extremely
significant uh because I'm hoping that
there will be a downward Trend in rent
but that's probably very naive but this
will at least start it it is new I'm
sure the building the units will be a
bit smaller but there's also not as many
amenities which I think most people are
pleased with they'd rather have lower
rent so I I feel that all of the
different attributes that we look for in
a building in mix juice in Scottdale
that we are trying to promote have been
addressed in this apartment building so
with that said I'd like to make a motion
to adopt resolution number
13137 adopt ordinance number
4639 adopt resolution number
13138 adopt resolution number
13139
and uh reference the stipulation that
has been added with maximum Building
height no building on the site shall
exceed three stories and and 42 ft in
height exclusive of rooftop apperences
measured is provided in the applicable
section of the zoning ordinance
exceptions for mechanical equipment and
rooftop apperances should comply with
the Pud District requirements
second thank you we have a motion in a
second uh any further
discussion and I will call on
councilwoman Littlefield
so uh see councilwoman caputi did you
want to speak to your a second and then
we'll go to Vice may just really quick
so I I couldn't say anything better than
what the applicant already did this is a
perfect example of an Adaptive reuse
project like the other handful of
projects that we approved in the last
several years you've got failed
commercial being replaced by highquality
live work Play Just that's my comment I
don't know what reason you would ever
give to say no so I'm I'm very excited
to support this project thank you for
bringing
it okay vice mayor Graham thank you
mayor um this application you know I
read through this and I struggle with it
a little bit um very familiar with the
area I went to chapero high school uh
ate at the bread CRA or Bread Company a
lot still there I believe um and they
have done some recent improvements to it
the um you know I think three stories
for this area is the max
um I think that's what fits in um I like
a few things the project it's um I like
that it's reduction from four to three
floors you reduce the
units um I like how much is overp
parked it's overp parked that's correct
uh mayor Orga vice mayor Graham yes it's
overp parked by 70 spaces 70 um I like
that it doesn't disturb single family
neighborhoods in the area
um I like that it protects almost all of
the retail in the area you know
sometimes they go in and they want to
replace all big retail section with
apartments and that's not what this is
and
um so it's going to protect the retail
that the nearby residents rely on I
think this applicant has worked to add
some Community value and make it fit the
area and uh make it a high quality make
it high quality so um I will I will have
to comment though I think after this you
know
the area is probably
full and um those are my remarks thank
you mayor thank you uh we have a motion
in a second uh please record your
vote councilwoman Littlefield votes
yes okay we are unanimous uh good luck
with your project thank you mayor thank
you all very much appreciate it and
happy New
Year okay next um we we
will uh go to U item number 20 regular
agenda item um Scottdale Community
sustainability plan and we have our
presenter uh Lisa Neely and uh who's a
sustainability
director so good evening mayor ATA
council members
thank you for inviting me back here to
share the Scottsdale Community
sustainability plan for your
consideration I'm going to keep my
presentation short since I've presented
the details of this plan to you at past
meetings as I think you know and
everyone here knows the council has
prioritized the sustainability plan as
part of the 2022 and
2024 uh organization strategic plans and
it was identified by the community as a
part of the general plan 2035 policy and
implementation as you also know Council
um I mean sorry work on the plan began
in June of 2021 uh with the support of
ASU and others and with input from the
Scott stale environmental advisory
commission which I'll refer to as the
commission moving
forward you provided Direction and
feedback at multiple meetings the last
direction that c that staff received
from the council was to conduct
additional community outreach um and
that occurred in the fall and the
feedback was shared with the community
the commission and the council in
October the commission voted to transmit
a letter of recommendation to you uh to
agendize adoption of the plan uh by
December and and to and shared some
specific commission clarifications to be
made um I'll talk more about the those
Community meetings in the edits in a
couple of slides um you know based on
that Comm Comm unication the you know
the majority of council members asked to
agendize the plan and uh for a possible
vote so to follow that direction I'm
here tonight with an updated
draft so as I said when I was here in
May the council asked us to conduct at
least two additional community outreach
meetings uh we did those uh to 90 minute
meetings in September of 2024 quite a
few of the people in the crowd here
attended those meetings we widely
publicized them on social media via
email and City list uh newsletters so I
gave a short introductory presentation
and then Workshop participants had an
opportunity to share their ideas for
enhancing the city's work on
sustainability we had six stations
around uh uh around the rooms for Energy
Water waste air quality heat uh and
overall and you know informational
posters as you would expect at such a
meeting we had almost 70 people attend
both meetings uh and they shared about
200 comments on the plan and overall
what they shared was positive um and
extremely helpful feedback all of the
feedback though that ranged uh across
the board um was included uh in the
workshop summary and it's been part of
the agenda packet and has been posted
online so the edits that were made to
the plan since you saw it in may have
been noted in the draft text this is
kind of a a slightly boring part of the
presentation uh any change noted in red
were the uh uh based on input from the
commission anything in blue were a few
number of edits from staff again uh this
is for mostly for uh those in the in the
audience who are looking at the plan if
it was an uppercase and bold it was
additional text not surprisingly strike
through text meant that it was
recommended for deletion um these uh we
highlighted them uh just for clarity but
these edits will be uh included in the
plan kind of you know as part of the
course if it is adopted tonight but
there's three edits or sort of sets of
edits that I just want to review a
little bit in more detail tonight uh
most of these are clarifying or add
information and you know not necessarily
to alter the proposed work of the plan
first we heard clearly at those meetings
in September that the community wants to
have more conversations about sustain
ability So to that end um so people were
engaged they asked important questions
and they gave us long and detailed
comments uh one person gave us four
pages on extreme heat
Alone um so staff uh one of the staff
edits staff is suggesting that we
continue those regular Community
dialogues uh as part of the
implementation of the plan this could
kind of help us craft uh a path forward
on sustainability and work to
continually improve approve the
plan as I mentioned earlier the
commission also recommended specific
clarifications to the plan the bulk of
these are referenced uh that were
referenced in the commission letter over
70 edits across about 50 pages are
reflected in the document that shared
here tonight the new text is responsive
to almost all those suggestions either
fully or by responding or responding to
the feedback with maybe a slightly
different edit or approach um for
example there's one action uh the 4.6
that was updated in response to the
commission feedback but it used a
slightly alternate text that was
discussed at the October commission
meeting there's a small number of
clarifications that were not fully
included uh most of these were discussed
again at that October commission you
know to the extent possible we had a
shorter timeline here uh some of the
future annual report on the plan can
include updates that address these and
then there were just some other minor
tweaks that were made mostly those
labeled in
blue I'm going to cover the next few
slides fairly quickly um you know as I
presented before this is uh just a
refresher for everybody you know if you
don't remember all the way back to May
um there's five elements in the draft
Community sustainability plan this was
driven by Council Direction and reflects
Community interest in this topic I'll
briefly review these uh and the intent
behind the actions included in the
section so the focus on energy is
increasing the use of renewable energy
and en lowering people's bills by using
energy more efficiently so we have uh
several data indicators and Baseline
data that then measure our progress
towards those
goals for water we have a couple of
proposed strategies that drive water
conservation and water security um and
some additional data indicators just
want to note that for this in all of the
sections there's an implementation table
that details all of the actions it shows
the time Horizon for implementation lead
agencies partners and estimated costs
and
benefits similarly for waste the
proposed actions will bring us closer to
a circular economy by helping us use by
creating less waste and keeping it out
of the
landfill the strategies to enhance air
quality are based on our community
health concerns uh about the
implications of pollution and include a
focus on what the city can do to make
these improvements um we have uh two key
strategies that are tied again to four
different indicators of
success and finally heat mitigation has
obviously also been a council priority
in recent organization strategic plans
and I presented in the past on the
city's proposed mitigation strategies um
here we have several indicators and
strategies that will help improve our
response to extreme heat and hopefully
to begin to mitigate it um
so that concludes my presentation uh do
you want to know you know if there are
any questions um and wanted to leave up
the the possible action from the council
report uh for your
consideration well thank you at this
point we will move on to public comment
there are 15 uh people people wishing to
speak on the subject um and I will name
you for a time please come forward and
and um tell us your place of residence
and you have three minutes or less if
possible um Natalie uh Chrisman Lazar UT
Brady uh Brandon Putman and Mark
Ren thank
you mayga honorable council members
thank you for the opportunity to address
you as a proponent of the Scottdale
Community sustainability plan my name is
Natalie Chrisman Lazar and I live at
7647 East turquoise
Road I have a few questions for you all
tonight do you love clean air do you
think that our water supply should be
protected how about effective Waste
Management do you support
that and Energy Efficiency that's pretty
cool as well you know it saves US money
I bet you are pretty partial to trees
and shade like I am especially when it's
rather warm out I think we can all agree
that these priorities contribute
significantly to what makes Scottdale a
place where we want to raise our
kids own homes and live out our golden
years sustainability is all about that
long-term commitment to the place we
choose to live to meet our current needs
without compromising our future
this fundamental value is why we need
sustainabil a sustainability plan in
Scottdale the science of sustainability
is compelling it's getting hotter
although we currently enjoyed in par
unparalleled livability worldclass
amenities and a diverse
landscape these attributes won't just
take care of themselves we are reaching
buildout in a warming
climate and what will happen to our
economy if our skies are clogged with
smog our hillsides in vegetation in The
Preserve is brown and the temperature in
March during spring bre Spring ball is
over 100 degrees we must plan for
sustainability in Scottsdale the cost of
doing nothing leaving the management of
the air we breathe the water we drink
the waste we generate the energy we
consume and the heat we endure to Chance
is dear the sustainability plan is a
starting point a living document
intended to promote Community dialogue
and leadership as we Forge ahead it is
aspirational in nature but robust enough
for us to track PR progress there are no
mandates there is an ongoing requirement
for dialogue because stakeholders must
work together to reap the numerous
benefits identified in the plan of cost
savings resiliency and less
pollution the plan is the result of a
over three years of community input from
workshops to commission meetings to
council study sessions to community
surveys the overwhelming feedback from
the public has been supportive because
the work is
important Our Community Values are
long-term health and economic viability
our community persists because
responsible leaders like you ensure that
we we meet the needs of today without
compromising the future of those that
will come after us please join me in
approving this plan thank you thank you
uh UT Brady Brandon Putman and Mark
R I'm breaking the microphone
good evening honorable mayor City
Council Members thank you for giving me
the opportunity to speak uh I'm do Dr
UTA Brady I have lived in Scottsdale I'm
embarrassed to say almost 30 years and
my address is on file I am a research
assistant professor at Arizona State
University where I research and consult
on environmental policies their design
and
implementation I am here in my role as
the current chair of the Scottdale
environmental advisory commission or SE
to confirm se's unanimous support for
the community sustainability plan that
is before you for adoption without any
further modifications please seek
support is based on the expert review of
and feedback on the sustainability plan
that seek Commissioners have provided
over the nearly three years that this
plan has been in development during this
time we have worked under your guidance
in collaboration with City staff and
with Community input the plan as such is
the culmination of a multi-year
collaborative effort among government
citizens and experts and our citizens
have expressed overwhelming support for
the plan in community open houses and in
their emailed comments the
sustainability plan has no mandates
enforcement mechanisms or sanctions
instead it's an aspirational guide that
outlines non-mandatory non-enforceable
indicators targets strategies and
actions that reflect where we are now
where we want to be in 5 10 or 20 years
and how to get there it will help us
become more efficient in our water and
energy use waste less resources and
mitigate the detrimental effects of heat
and air pollution as such it represents
the solid foundation which we can use to
build a healthy and livable City that
protects our citizens quality of life
maintains or improves e economic
prosperity and reflects the Community
Values and environmental stewardship our
city has always championed personally
and on behalf of seik I want to express
my sincere gratitude to you our city
council for your foresight and vision
and championing the plan seek strongly
encourages you to adopt the plan today
our community and future Generations
will be grateful for your efforts thank
you for your
consideration thank you um next we have
Brandon Putman Mark Ren and L uh Lila
yang
go good evening mayor and members of the
city council my name is Brandon Putman I
reside at 7536 East Virginia Avenue in
South Scottsdale uh I am a Park and
Recreation professional uh thank you for
the opportunity to speak tonight on the
issue that will Define Scottsdale's
future the Scottdale sustainability plan
is a Visionary document that is three
years in the making shaped by extensive
research public input and expert
analysis by the city staff you regularly
praise for their
diligence it represents a culmination of
your commitment to Scott's future and
it's critical that we act now first let
me emphasize that the plan is
aspirational and not a mandate there are
no penalties if targets are not met no
Financial burdens no restrictive
regulations what this plan offers is a
road map for Scott sale for our time
while preserving a Vibrant Community and
unique desert environment we all cherish
Scott sale is renowned for its quality
of life natural beauty and worldclass
amenities these attributes Define our
identity and attract people from around
the country climate change is already
altering the life in the desert as
evidenced by our record heat waves our
failing Saros our dying shade trees and
our wildf fuel drought each summer we
Face the financial strain of
skyrocketing cooling costs and growing
economic toll of extreme weather events
uh costs compounded by SRP P's recent
rate hikes we cannot afford to wait by
passing this plan Scottsdale can lead
the way in creating a sustainable future
while preserving what makes our city
exceptional this plan is resident and
Market driven and we know it can work
just look at all the Teslas driving
around on our streets many strategies
and actions outlined here are already
underway in the Scottdale
providing proving they are cost
effective and achievable for example the
plan encourages but does not require
residents organizations and businesses
to take steps like reducing water
reducing waste cooling our city and
improving Public Health these
improvements will not only conserve our
natural resources but leave a lasting
Legacy for our community Scottdale has a
proud history of Creative Solutions to
environmental challenges such as
Innovative water reuse programs Green
Building initiatives the Indian Bend
wash was a groundbreaking Green Belt
project turned flood control uh turned
flood control into a beloved Community
Asset the Scottsdale Mountain Preserve
protects 30,000 Acres of desert through
voter approved sales taxes highlighting
Scottsdale's leadership and conservation
these are decisions that future
Generations will thank you for and this
plan is the next chapter in this
Legacy um stakes canot be HED the desert
Southwest is experiencing one of the
worst droughts the over allocation of
the Colorado River insufficient rainfall
and Rising temperatur strain our water
supplies these these are federal
mandates that for water rationing that
are already in place this is not
Scottsdale's doing but underscores why
proactive measures are essential it is
important to counter misconceptions
about water conservation for instance
criticism about apartment complexes are
contrary to sustainability when in fact
they are some of the most water
conservation and energy efficient so
Scottdale has always risen to meet
challenges with creativity and
determination let's do it again thank
you for your time your leadership and
Vision to Scottsdale future let's pass
this plan and secure a sustainable
livable Scottsdale thank you thank you
sir um Mark Ren and then uh Laya yango
uh Freya uh carve and Ryan
Johnson so if we have Mark
rents okay moving on we have umia yango
and Freya Carvey
you'll see a timer there also on okay
hello Scottdale city council I'm ly
yango and I live at 11281 East Delon
Brave in
scotvale I'm a junior at Desert Mountain
high school and I've lived in Scottdale
my whole life I'm here today to urge you
to adopt the version of the community
sustainability plan posted with the
December 3rd 2024 city council agenda
this is the most important action you
could take at present because without a
plan to address environmental damage the
cost of extreme heat drought and loss of
nature will only continue to increase
here in Scottdale we need clean energy
and clean air and cheaper energy and
measures to address the threats of
extreme heat and drought without the
sustainability sustainability plan our
lives will only become more polluted and
we will not be able to enjoy the beauty
of
nature personal I'm here because I don't
want to keep walking on the bridge of at
my high school each day and see a haze
of
pollution when I see it I feel so
disappointed in us and I also know we're
all breathing and in I love biking and
running and just being
outside but I know the pollution is a
detriment to our health and failed to
those with asthma so with the worsening
pollution and heat I feel as if someday
you and I won't be able to go outside
one day and that makes me very
sad that is why this sustainability plan
must be passed because if that day
happens it'll be in part because you
voted not today our community is
depending on your courage thank
you thank you uh Freya Carvey Ryan
Johnson and uh Tim
Whitney right can you hear me okay um
thank you okay good evening thank you
for the opport get as close as you can
to the mic okay that's good um thank you
for the opportunity to speak here in
front of you council members and mayor
uh my name is fr carve I live at 12325
North 115th Street in Scottdale um as a
young member and inhabitant of the
community of Scottdale I would like to
express my support for the community
sustainability plan today I value the
safety of our planet and science has
definitely confirmed that the planet is
warming faster than ever before this
warming climate will pose many
environmental dangers for generations to
come which includes the generation that
I'm a part of um I'd like to see change
and action take place on a large scale
and in order for that to happen we need
to take action here on a community scale
and prevent the disasters of climate
change and preserve our environment here
in
Scottdale so um this is why I'm
advocating for the sustainability plan
today personally I support and
prioritize the minimization of waste
reducing pollution and managing water
and energy consumption which is what the
plan effectively assesses where we
currently stand and where we want to
stand um the plan also proposes clearcut
effective goals that will benefit our
community and the health of our
environment so I hope that the plan will
help to ensure a cleaner future for not
only our commun Community but other
communities um climate action not only
proposes benefit benefits for the
environment but also for the the safety
and health of our community members as
well as economic benefits from waste
reduction so reducing our waste directly
contributes to cost savings and this
means that climate action can have
significant benefits for even those who
are less sensitive about the safety of
our planet I sincerely hope that my own
as well as um the concerns of my
community will not go unheard thank you
for hearing me
today thank you um next we have Ryan
Johnson then Tim Whitney and Tammy
bossy good evening Ryan Johnson I live
at
11303 East Soro Lane I've been a
resident of scoto for 25 years I
received an email earlier this week
attempting to disparage the word green
and the word sustainability which was
baffling to me in the context of this
plan um because I don't need to remind
people on the on the DI that the TPC of
Scottdale every February attracts nearly
a million to the largest zero waste
event in the world if you recall it used
to be known as the greatest show on
grass and now it's been rebranded to the
greenest show on grass and of course the
TPC sits next to the Fairmont Scottdale
princess which proudly proclaims that
sustainability is quote an integral part
of its Hospitality
DNA mayor and Council I appreciate the
opportunity to speak about
sustainability not as an abstract
concept but as a practical strategy for
strengthening our City's economy and
future here's the thing adopting
sustainability practices isn't just
about water efficiency reducing air
pollution it's about saving money
creating jobs and staying competitive
with cities that are already ahead of us
take for example Georgetown Texas city
of about 77,000 led by a Republican
mayor and Council that transitioned to
100% renewable energy now why did they
do that not because they wanted to go
green but because it made economic sense
they locked in long-term savings by
stabilizing energy costs avoiding the
roller coaster of volatile fuel prices
and today taxpayers are thanking the
city
council consider the city of a Phoenix's
sustainability project to convert street
lights to LED technology which could be
a similar concept to what we're
promoting here assuming 100,000 street
lights replaced in Phoenix the annual
Energy savings alone is $4.3 million and
annual maintenance savings is over $3
million due to the longer life cycle of
LED
bulbs sustainability gives us a
Competitive Edge and economic
development companies want to invest in
cities with modern infrastructure clean
energy and Forward Thinking policies um
we're not just talking about big
corporations here either small
businesses save money too from lower
utility bills and less
waste uh if saving money creating jobs
and outsmarting other cities doesn't
excite us I'll ask when was the last
time anyone regretted planting more
trees or saving money on their electric
bill as they say the best time to plant
a tree was always 20 years ago and the
second best time is today unless of
course you're my neighbor trying to
block my view then we need to talk but
on a serious note this isn't about
ideology it's about common sense
ensuring our city is prosperous
resilient and ready for the future so
let's be bold and practical and maybe
even have a little fun along the way
after all what's more conservative than
conserving resources that make our
community strong thank
you thank you uh Tim Whitney Tammy bossy
and Lee cffile
good evening mayor and uh ladies and
gentlemen of the council um very happy
to be here thank you for your time and
engagement as uh we go deeper and deeper
into the night today these are important
issues and um it means the world to us
that you guys are listening so um my
introduction um I've been a scoto
resident at 5518 East Michelle Drive
since 2007 um where I began Elementary
School I am a recent Alum of Arizona
State University graduating from WP
carry with the specialization in
sustainab ability um I'm a co-founder of
circular Earth we help small businesses
with some familiar parameters um energy
water and waste we go in there and we
make them more green via green
initiatives um that's sort of our
tagline I'm also an eagle scout um I've
been in Scouts for the majority of my
life um it is out of a Duty that I learn
in Scouts that I'm here today it is out
of an appreciation a love and a
connection to Nature the clarity that it
provides me the spirit that it has that
I also stand and work hard every day
towards issues like this I'm also
frequent attendee of the Scott sale
environmental advisory commission um I'd
like to highlight this at this point
that the uh Scott sale environmental
advisory commission is a diverse group
of incredibly proficient individuals
that work together um sprinkle laughs in
between their sessions and execute
consistently on all of the objectives
that that we've talked about today um
I'd like to note that we have multiple
doctors in that committee we have a
nonprofit representative um Finance
expert an IT expert and as we heard a
research Professor so it is really quite
the collection of people I believe that
sustainability alone isn't enough
sustainability plus execution equals
most livable and we have a group of
people that are willing to execute on
these issues um in a way that that
really does Justice to what
sustainability and green and all these
terms we throw around what they really
mean what they really stand for I'd like
to highlight uh to finish off that the
city of Scottsdale is doing great in a
lot of metrics there's always room to
improve um energy-wise greenhouse gas
emissions are down in the last roughly 5
years 7% in the city 133% water
reduction use since the year 2000 um we
have 133% Family household landfill uses
down since 2009 all these figures are
coming from uh reports that are
published um by that committee that I
mentioned extreme heat
is being actioned upon um through
Partnerships in the projects such as the
tree and shade project um to reduce
temperatures increase shade and mitigate
those those heat deaths which
unfortunately do occur across the valley
and um air quality one in three days
exceed fed standards for healthy air in
our city um personally as someone with
asthma it definitely hits home to have
uh have blue skies and and and clean
airs and the action
once again and the expertise in this
committee is something that I place my
faith in and I ask you all kindly today
to do the same thank you for your
time thank you next we have Tammy bossy
uh and then um Lee kofile Alexandra
Craig and Michael Craig
hi mayor and Council I'm Tammy bossy and
I live at 3417 North 6th Street for 32
years I'm a local business owner and um
also a former commissioner for six years
on cak and
EAP we all desire a healthy economy and
a city that is well-run beautiful safe
comfortable enjoyable and full of Opp
opportunity but in order to have all of
that we must have high functioning
ecosystem that is healthy resilient so
that we can have the resources and the
conditions necessary to create that
desired wonderful quality of life in our
city therefore it is essential that we
nurture the core of our foundation for
City vibrancy an ounce of prevention is
worth a pound of cure and supporting the
sustainability plan
is the right choice for long-term
vibrant livability in Scott for
Scottdale residents voting for this plan
today is a vital step in keeping us safe
secure healthy comfortable and
economically strong this plan that I
refer to is the plan for sustained
livability also leads the way to protect
our desirable Scottdale quality of life
and our property values our business
success and that sustains that sustain
ains our robust economy it is all highly
dependent on a healthy ecosystem for too
long as a society we've taken our ecos
system for granted while many people
have worked hard to help Society
recognize the environmental imperative
many still believe that economy and
environment are either is an either or
decision it is not they are inextricably
linked even the word economy is economy
Eco drives our
economy think of our personal ecosystems
our bodies we take preventative actions
to keep ourselves healthy we must also
do that for our umbrella ecosystem here
in Scottsdale in order to maintain our
lives here who's going to continue to
live here if conditions are miserable
and resources are scarce and our desert
is dying a slow
death we wish the Earth was as healthy
like it us used to be and that we could
just live our lives without worrying
about it unfortunately that is no longer
the situation that we find ourselves in
today and it is public officials like
you who bear the great responsibility to
look at reality and take proactive
action to protect us from harmful
things like and and by enacting sound
policies such as this we wish there are
no fires and no crime but we take
proactive action there as well we the
this plan did go through rigorous and
extensive Community input processes
reviews revisions including
substantially reducing its initial
proposed scope of actions in order to be
presented today it has been repeatedly
vetted by the public in multiple ways
and it is ready for adoption it is much
less than other communities have adopted
to protect their residents so we doing
this today and thank you very much for
your consideration and supporting this
plan thank you uh lee CTI Alexander
Craig Michael Craig Marian
Shakur hi there uh lee cile dress hasn't
changed still on file uh 7726 East
Thomas Road um I just uh everybody kind
of said it already so I just want to
come up and
say from a personal standpoint uh a few
years ago I was looking to move out of
this uh City move out of this state uh
to someplace else that would be cooler
and I wouldn't have to worry as much
about water and all the things that this
plan addresses um I just happen to then
start getting start visiting and getting
more involved in
Scottdale uh
municipality and things like that and I
was inspired by how hard and how
dedicated the people both up there and
that we never really get to see that are
working behind the scenes here uh are to
making this such a wonderful place to
live and to make sure that all the
citizens uh are able to continue to live
here um
successfully and uh and just to make it
such a special place I think uh looking
back on the year both uh in November we
had 85 degrees was the high uh which and
September it was 116 was the High um as
somebody who spends a lot of time
outside and we talk a lot about the
importance of small businesses and
things like that and and also congestion
I think all these things play together
because if if it's 116
you're not going
to uh there's not it's not a good idea
to go out and walk to go get what you
need but if we had more trees if we
could make the environment more
sustainable more pleasant for people to
exist in I think we would get more foot
traffic for those small businesses we
would have our neighbors who would spend
more time with each other and I just
really want to emphasize that the cost
of of doing nothing is not a free option
there are uh there are costs that are
associated with not
preventing um problems further down the
road and uh specifically with our water
I am so inspired by the work that the
city has done to make sure that the that
the citizens here have water going
forward and I feel comfortable with that
and that's why I'm committed to staying
here but I do want to see the city
continue to commit itself to making sure
that people like myself and everybody
else living here can continue to live
here and have faith in our government uh
to take care of us because we are part
of a community so thank
you thank you Alexandra Craig Michael
Craig Marian Shakur and Jason
lowy good evening mayor Orga and
honorable council members my name is
Alexandra Craig and I live at 8588 East
Indian School Road thank you for the
opportunity to speak this evening I'm
here to ask you to vote Yes to approve
the Scottdale Community sustainability
plan as presented in tonight's agenda as
our community continues to grow it is
crucial that we prioritize the health of
our environment for the benefit of both
current and future
Generations I have studied and worked in
the environmental industry for 12 years
to include local town planning
environment environmental contamination
cleanup I volunteered for conservation
research in the Amazon rainforest I
joined efforts to bridge the gap between
the blue colled label labor unions and
the green movement I studied climate
policy in DC and now I'm working to
build the circular economy and divert
waste from landfills here in Arizona I
cannot begin to te to describe how
important it is for this city to take
climate change seriously I can however
tell you that any desire to squash this
plan is based on the fear of change and
an outdated belief that sustainability
initiatives can hinder economic growth
but from my experiences I just described
to you I can tell you that is a
fearmongering technique that is simply
untrue climate change is real we feel
one extreme of its effects here in
Scottsdale and our fellow Americans are
feeling the effects other effects
elsewhere we have the opportunity to act
we have the opportunity to change some
of our habits and lower the impact on
our local
environment while not everyone will care
about climate change and its impact on
our local community I stand here to tell
you that I do the citizens who
overwhelmingly wrote support this for
this evening they support this plan and
without this in place this city will
Overlook our biggest threat to date and
the burden will fall on of on all of us
as individuals sooner or later this plan
was written with input from citizens
staff and the Scottsdale environmental
advisory commission all of whom have
chosen to put the Community First a vote
for this plan is a vote for our city and
vote for our future as a city I implore
you to vote Yes on the Scottdale Su
Community sustainability plan thank you
for your time and
consideration Michael Craig Marian
Shakur Jason Lori and Emerson Randall
Mayorga and honorable council members my
name is Michael Craig and I live at 855
East Indian School
Road thank you for the opportunity to
speak today I'm here to ask you to vote
Yes to approve the Scottdale Community
sustainability
plan our citizens are feeling the
effects of climate change whether we
want to admit it or not this plan
addresses the five key areas that affect
not just our environment but our
community
directly the plan before you today was
put together with input from staff
experts and citizens within the
community's best interest at heart the
plan does not require anything from its
citizens rather it simply outlines a
path to move forward to help mitigate
the effects from climate
change overall we have no time to waste
climate change is real and is up to us
to act to preserve our community our
environment and our
future voting no is showing
comfortability taking the easy way out
showing fear of change and
inconvenience but soon that won't matter
because our environment is changing
rapidly whether we like it or
not your previous vote on the plan was
not yet and and your direction was for
staff to Garner more input from the
community and that is exactly what they
did the plan before was written by the
community and for the
community I would like to ask you today
to vote Yes on the Scottdale Community
sustainability plan thank you for
listening thank you Marian Shakur uh
Jason Lori Emerson Randall and taliana
Al Al
They so I do not see um maryan Shakur
therefore we will move on to Jason Lowry
and Emerson Ryan
all good evening mayor and members of
the council my name is Jason Lowry and I
am the director of sustainability
initiatives for local first
Arizona local first Arizona North
America's largest Coalition of locally
owned businesses represents over 125
locally owned businesses here in the
city of Scottdale we support the Scott
sale Community sustainability plan and
encourage you all to please do the
same at local first Arizona we support
locally owned businesses to reduce their
environmental
footprint with longer hotter and drier
Summers locally owned businesses want to
do what they can to ameliorate the
future pain points of climate change and
the corresponding Rising
costs but as we know businesses can't do
it all alone Partners like the city of
Scottdale can provide critical support
for them by providing guidance as to
what small business owners can do to
Future prooof their
business if approved this plan would
help locally owned businesses identify
how their day-to-day operations are
being impacted by Urban heat the rising
costs of energy deepening water scarcity
and waste challenges and what they can
do to reduce costs and their climate
impact again we support the community
sustainability plan and we look forward
to working with with the city and
Scottsdale based small businesses to
save money while effectively stewarding
our natural resources thank
you thank you Emerson Randall taliana
aler and Tara uh
alagard to The Honorable mayor and
Council my name is Emerson Randall and
I'm a um a senior at Desert Mountain
high school and I've I've lived at 101 4
101418 East ched Oak Drive for all of my
life um and I'm a proud member of
Scottdale I I applaud what we've done
working with um our energy working with
our water um I've taken so many classes
at school and also self-studied in how
we are making choices as our community
um and this has inspired me to start
studying sustainability at ASU next year
which I'm excited about to start making
changes for our community um but I also
the reason why I I came up on this
career path is because I grew up in a
culture of hopelessness a little bit
towards our Global future and towards
our climate issues and it's a scary
topic one that is really just hard to
talk about um and I think that that
inability to talk about it and that fear
that we let ourselves get taken over
with of what's going to happen to us in
the future really just hinders us from
being able to talk about Solutions so
I'd also want to applaud our ability to
just talk about this and get this out in
the open cuz speaking about it speaking
to it speaking to that fear that's our
first step in making changes um I think
that even though some people think that
the global narrative is already written
that we're already set off like as long
as we're making changes or as long as
we're making choices we can make changes
and I think that this is a great
opportunity for us you guys wanted
Community engagement so that's what we
did we as individuals made the choices
so we can start making changes so now I
implore you guys to look at as a
community how can we make choices to
make changes and how can we make the
choices to change the global change the
local narrative to change this the state
narrative and even to change the global
narrative so thank you all um for all
every everybody who's spoken today it
gives me so much hope that we are we are
speaking to this um and it gives me a
lot of excitement for what Scott still
May hold if we pass this thank
you thank you taliana Alco and then
terara
RAR hello mayor and city council my name
is taliana Alti and I reside at 11032
North 109th Street I am here today to
show my support for the sustainability
plan and to urge to get it passed I am
currently a high school student and
would like to um speak on behalf of all
the student athletes as well who are
outside year round I understand that he
is one of our City's top sustain
sustainability challenges as well as its
air quality which is a big factor as to
why I believe passing the plan is so
important I also understand that
implementing parks and trees is a
component of the plan and I find it only
convenient not only convenient but also
unifying as it gives us a place to carry
out extracurricular sports activities
therefore I urge you to pass the
sustainability plan for all student
athletes like me thank you for your time
thank you and our last speaker is Tara
lanar thank you mayor ortea and members
of the city council for affording me
this opportunity to speak to you tonight
my name is Tara AAR and I live at 12089
East Point CIA Drive which is
appropriate given the time of
year I don't have a prepared speech so
I'm just going to speak from the heart I
am also a me current member of seek and
in the short time that I have been a
member of this commission I have watched
regular citizens become extraordinary
citizens in the time and effort that
they have put forth in trying to put
forth this plan to you we all have
full-time jobs and we've taken on two
and a half times the workload because we
want to put that effort forward for the
future generation so that the future is
not so hopeless I I also wear a
different hat I am a medical oncologist
and it's in my role as a medical
oncologist that I was driven to become a
member of this commission and while I
don't have my 50 plus Partners on the
stage with me currently I have their
unified support in putting forth the
idea that a sustainability plan is also
a Health Plan caring about the
environment and putting forth a
sustainability plan is important for the
future of healthare for this country I
think the pandemic has already proven to
you how much our Health Care system has
already stretched the limit it will
continue to be so into the future if we
don't put forth strides to make change
so I implore you to go forward and
support this plan thank
you well thank you with that I will
close public testimony and thank you one
and all for being here and uh it is
about uh our future and you you are our
future now and uh participating
today uh is amazing councilwoman janic
and then
councilwoman uh
White thank you mayor um first of all I
want to offer huge thanks to the current
and past members of the seek committee I
do know that you have taken on a second
full time job because you are so
dedicated to this concept and you
believe how effective it will be to
improve our environment so thank you
very much I also want to give big thanks
to staff members who are already
actively working on this uh they have
done really really good work they are
very humble about it but they are
definitely moving the needle towards a
sustainability sustainability
Scottsdale I also want to thank all the
citizens who sent hundreds and hundreds
of emails on both sides of this um they
are very difficult to read um I hope
that many of them are listening to what
was said tonight especially by our young
people because they are the future of
Scottsdale of the state and of the
country so I want to thank all of you
for all your work for your speeches and
for your robust support of this plan um
I also want to offer a very special
thanks to n Lisa
McNelly she is in The Crossroads between
the staff the community the pro the con
and sometimes I don't even know how she
can move forward with all that input at
such extremes so she has maintained her
composure and I really thank her for
that because it's a really big job
um moving on I do want to read one part
of the
plan which I think kind of expresses
where we are and what we want to
accomplish it is um an addition by staff
it is on page four of the
plan the plan's key elements all improve
our natural environment and also bring
other benefits and positive outcomes it
is resident and Market driven and there
are numerous examples where important
work is already being done so so we know
actions can be coste
effective the strategies and action will
encourage but not require residents
organizations and businesses to take
steps that reduce water and waste cost
cool our city and provide Better Health
outcomes these improvements are what
will be remembered about the plan so
with that in mind I would like to make
some motions um for acceptance to the
plan to the various elements of it so
I'd like to make a motion to accept the
recommendations by seek to delete the
crossed out red font text and accept all
uppercase red font text accept
recommendations by staff to the lead
crossed out blue font text and accept
all uppercase blue font text is
indicated on page one of 122 Pages
exhibit a draft quote city of Scotto
Community sustainability plan
second we have a motion in a second on
the we're going to be voting piece by
piece on uh so uh at this point we have
a motion um with the
um I think we we would need to have a a
base motion for the
whole for the whole
um we we need to have a base motion
before we have an amendment but we we're
going to do this with uh amendments uh
to the main in this case so we have a
motion in a second uh any further
discussion at this part of the uh draft
plan okay go go ahead I'll just make
some general comments it it's been a
very nice night we've actually had a lot
of young people speaking tonight and
certainly um this environment you know
in Scottdale our our environment is our
economy so we don't have an economy
without reasonable temperatures without
a beautiful without beautiful open space
without clean air without water I mean
there will be no economy so but I also
one of the speakers mentioned execution
and I just want to point out that this
plan for one thing it is not etched in
stone there are things I have issues
with and uh we need to tweak it we need
it to be something that does make
Scottdale better and is uh both
economically and environmentally
sustainable but on execution for the
last six years we've our community
passed bonds that turned um uh enabled
us to power our North corpy guard with
solar power we have
expanded uh food waste composting so not
only do we have the greenest show as
mentioned but we have uh zero waste July
4th events at Westworld we have we're
bringing food composting to our stadium
and we have events on the Zero food
waste at uh Canal convergence so we have
the LED lights um we have turned we've
opened a new water treatment plant on
Thomas and the
101 forly un drinkable water is now part
of our portfolio people are drinking
water water that could not be was not
potable just three four years ago so
we're constantly doing a lot um we're
actively improving our environment here
in Scottdale and I just want to stress
that and of course the green building
codes which are the most boring way to
impactfully change the future and
Scottdale this Council has approved some
of the greenest building codes um
trees are so important tree roots act
like a a a drainage storage for our
community they capture rain they prevent
it from running off and they create
biodiversity wherever you plant a tree
you have more biodiversity so I can't
stress how much I agree with all of the
comments made and with my colleagues I'm
so grateful to all of them um that said
you know as we move forward they'll be
this will be a living document someone
also said that where we tweak it to make
sure that it it works for Scottdale so
those are my general comments Thank you
And to clarify the the motion again it's
a large document we have the draft
that's uh been publicized uh as an on
the agenda the intent is to take uh six
uh possible amendments uh there will be
other ones for water energy uh waste and
so forth so at this point we're uh
looking at the text uh uh which is a
compilation uh and later we'll be
looking at any other uh possible
amendments in in this full document um
so I want to clarify that we've received
a I think the entire Council has
received kind of an outline so rather
than taking it all as a huge document
where looking at it in pieces and I
think that makes sense uh therefore we
have a motion and we have a second vice
mayor do you wish to speak thank thank
you mayor I'm a I need a uh re
explanation of um the process you want
to do so how many how many sections of
the plan are we voting on well at this
point and I hope you got this uh this
document which is yes okay so what we're
looking at is um you know looking at
sort of the pickups uh and uh uh cross
out so that this is the way uh we're
handling this policy document because um
uh it's uh you know for instance page 20
it says uh a pilot program for advanced
water purification now we use Advanced
uh recycle purified water that's in a
definition so it's a text definition or
uh and that's the the method that we're
using so where you see the uh red cross
out uh those were deleted by seac and
then the uppercase uh as well as the U
mayor uh if I can just ask council
member janic this is
just the public doesn't understand R
uppercase lowercase so can you just just
explain a little more what those mean
sure um hopefully they looked at it
online which would give them a little
bit more information yeah but seek um
deleted some of the text in the document
uh a while ago and um that was in red
font text so we could see it and then um
they added some new text and that is an
uppercase red font so basically they've
eliminated some things and they've added
some things okay um we've all had quite
a bit of time to go through it I've read
it the changes are simply for clar
verification and to make sure that the
text has the table number or graph
number that is being referred to so it's
nothing at this point that has any when
did when was this provided this these it
says U I have go ahead okay this
information in booklet was provided oh I
understand that I'm just asking this
says proposed amendments from council
members janic and Whitehead when did we
get when when was this shared well I've
been working on it for quite some time
and I had the final draft and people
wanted to look at it which is fine but
I'm asking when did when did was it was
it when was this shared today today
today today today okay today yeah today
okay so the public hasn't seen this
because it was just produced no no okay
and would you say that
um because I see we're kind of making
changes here and so may I ask um would
you say that your
emotion makes the goals more
aggressive or less
aggressive I would say less aggressive
backing it off on some things yes in
some things is more aggressive no I
don't think it's more aggressive it
stayed the same because I haven't this
is kind of you know this is this seems
like a lot for me I'd like to sit down
and digest this well I understand here's
an example for in yeah let's go through
an example you know where you know uh
for instance there were deletions mostly
if you look at wtr 2.2 monitor leaks uh
previously said uh monitor leaks and
Implement Advan strip irrigation system
right so when I was reviewing this and
studying
it I AC I expected that that would be
stricken through and then here I'm
sitting here given expecting to receive
a motion that is asking that the red
font is going to be
unri no some what is stricken in Red
Front stays stricken what is capitalized
Red Front that is not stricken remains
so then why do you need to why do you
need to amend it if you're not changing
anything from the document we've
had we have a document that has not been
approved for the strikes and the
additions and we need to formalize the
document accepting
the changes that have been made and the
deletions that's why it's just to
formalize the document that's why
they've been carried through for over a
year because we need to formalize
everything okay because I and there's
another example if you could put that
pre maybe just so we can they just kept
for instance it said parks and wck that
was crossed out was respelled as Parks
and
Recreation so you know there was some um
word smithing so to speak speak in the
okay like let's look at uh just just for
clarity for the public so we can all
catch up water 2.1 remove non-functional
non-recreational and retrofit Municipal
irrigation you're saying you're
affirming that strikeout yeah correct
okay correct you're just summarizing it
to make it clear okay yeah and most of
these are just for clari well everything
I saw was for clarity purpose okay and
then like 2.3 maintain high efficiency
toilet shower heads correct you're
affirming the inclusion of that correct
so that would make it more aggressive
because you're expanding the scope of
it I mean that's correct you're
expanding the
scope uh I disagree clarification is not
expansion it is simply clarification I
think you're trying to read more into it
than is there when you say the lead is
Parks and wreck all you're saying is
Parks and wreck facilities so you've
clarified what you mean by parks and
wreck
that doesn't really okay let's go to 2.5
retrofit Municipal irrigation system to
Smart
controllers Lisa when if I can just add
this was uh uh action 2.1 and 2.2 were
essentially action a and action B and
there was just a request to leave action
a uh you know in 2.1 and create 2.5
which was the old action B so we just
split it into two actions in this case I
just picked this page because it had
both red and blue on it but this was uh
this doesn't change the actions that
were committed it just okay the
accounting of them is different 2.5 was
that when did when did we come when did
you come before us last before we tabled
this May 21st May 21st was two was that
2.5 written as it is now no these are
all edits that were made since May so th
these were added since May this was the
recommendation from the commission to uh
have these uh edits these clarifications
made to the plan yes so so these these
make it more aggressive because we're
adding
stuff again if you look at what was
stricken in 2.1 the text is identical to
what's in 2.5 I just took out the word
and do you think that you think that the
average person you think you think most
people that are following this
understand that very
clearly yes yes definitely oh no I I
asked Le
um at this go ahead I I I think that you
would have to to read all of them and to
see them but you know there are
other edits that are less comp there's
where there's fewer edits on the page I
think if somebody is used to doing uh
tracking track changes in word yes I
think this is what this is meant to
mimic uh a pretty standard word
processing option you just have to do it
manually in the program for the the
document and then um and then my other
question U mayor so um I know you
explain this but just can you refresh my
memory how many votes are we taking
tonight on the sustainability plan we
will we will uh take whatever we will
take them separately and uh perhaps as
many as six votes on amend uh accepting
the draft with changes and we'll be
hearing other ones uh on water and
energy which may be uh either accepted
as is or with a change U and to repeat
this again there were other meetings
subsequent to the May uh 21st meeting
which we requested uh if you look at
this uh sheet in particular it says
Municipal savings so when you say you
know is it more aggressive I it is for
saving money for our city that's what we
want to do and Municipal savings is
mainly the objective or the cost result
so whether this idea uh is um you know
ongoing and uh and would result in
taxpayer savings so that mayor mayor may
I ask a few more questions well sure go
ahead thank you so um I I think I'm I'll
just give some remarks at the beginning
of this and then what'll happen in the
subsequent events or sections that will
just happen that's fine um Lisa I just
want to I have a question for you the
Council continued the sustainability
plan in
May and um the goal then was to obtain
more Community input can you very
briefly from that Community input tell
us what you learned or from from that
time period tell us what you learned
from the community input right is you
know like I said we had almost 70
attendees there were really long
conversations uh we asked people to uh
we had a section for each of the five uh
elements of the plan plus a General
overall one and we asked people
questions about you know what what did
they what should we keep doing you know
what do they like that we're doing you
know what would they like us to see
different to see do differently we had a
whole range of input but we had a lot of
thoughtful like I said extended uh uh
detail conversations uh many people
supported a lot of the key strategies
that were in the plan um and in some
cases asked us to go further and other
cases shared uh concerns that they had
as
well thank you Lisa um
well I guess we're going to go through
and I'm I'm really not going to probably
add too much after this but it's um I'll
just make my remarks here
the you know I hear a lot that the
there's an argument that this plan
doesn't have
mandates but if it doesn't have mandates
a lot of people are asking me then why I
even do it and I think because it does
have an effect on us
I think uh after four years my
colleagues should know that they should
know how government administrators think
and if it's in the plan they got to go
do it that's how they
think um I want to give an example that
we have a transportation action plan and
uh we have a roundabout first
policy it's no legal requirement there's
no
mandate sir I just we're not talking
about the transportation aspect I just
want to be clear because can I make a
can I make a metaphor may I call the
question metaphor you know what's
happening is thank you mayor we we had
this published for over two weeks
they've sat with each of us for weeks
before may I continue well so if you can
stick to the main I will stick to I'm
sticking to the subject deal deal with
water or thank you but the
transportation aspect is not in this so
this so you know no mandates no
requirements
and after an expensive massive
roundabout on Scottdale Road staff says
staff says that the policy call the
question call the point of order okay
all right like there we go cutting off
debate we can't even
debate cutting off debate at this point
uh I'll I'll just go to the City
attorney and we're just trying to get
through a a very long you may not want
to hear it but I'm allowed to speak go
not about traffic
circles thank you sir uh City attorney
did you have a comment we we have a
motion in a second and there's been a
call to question but um go ahead thank
you mayor um to call the question you
need to wait until you have the floor
sure you can't interrupt the speaker to
call the question and and with respect
to um due respect to the vice mayor
we're not talking about you mayor about
the motion on theable so if you if you
if you'll kindly allow me I'll please
continue so we this C this Council
passed a policy that roundabouts first
there's no
requirement and staff went and put a
roundabout a massive roundabout at
scottw Road and dynamite and their
reason for that wasn't point of order I
am I am now making the call you're
you're you're then you're cutting off
debate if if that's what you want to do
not will
Coles we'll have our colleagues vote on
whether you are out of order no you make
no presiding officer makes the
determination then someone can appeal it
are you going to appeal yourself uh I am
I am uh asking for a point of order and
that would mean all that we could uh
stick to the subject I already declared
that we should stick to the subject okay
so the mayor's Walling the mayor the
mayor is Walling off in censoring
sections we can talk about so you can
continue I'll continue with my comment
that that's pertaining to what's what
the motion is so that's my call well so
here's the thing city administrators my
colleagues up here after four years
should know that if we pass it they got
to go do it and what is this this is
this is this is this is this is M Mr
Mayor this is so
relevant okay we have question and I
guess my colleagues will decide whether
or not we should you are you're off
subject no no it doesn't work that way
your proed your procedures don't work
that way you make the decis as the mayor
then I uh will you be short and finish
up okay thank you sir
so we can make policies and staff wants
to go execute our policies this is a
policy
document staff is going to want to
executed this will influence major
decisions of this Council so as much as
we hear about no requirements no
mandates no restrictions no obligations
it's just not true so the other thing I
would I I I've been wondering is
that if this plan is so popular why not
approve it before the election and run
on it sir that has nothing to do with
the subject the subject is that the
there's a motion on a text uh worthy uh
discussion and that's what the
discussion is Mayor I know I know I know
you're cutting me off because you don't
like what I'm hearing but I'm just
making are you ready to vote on your on
the motion or not I was you're you're
you're interjecting votes and other
things that are irrelevant it is
irrelevant I have the floor Mr Mayor and
I'm about to make an alternate motion
which I'm allowed to
do so the other thing is you know if
this plan is so
urgent why did we pause it leading up to
November and then wait till now during
lame
to pass
it these are questions that I want to
know these are questions that I get
asked all the time so those are
questions that I will leave for the
residents and with that I will make an
alternate motion Mr
Mayor to continue votes on the
sustainability plan until the second
meeting in January thank
you it dies for a second therefore you
have lost the floor
point of order you haven't asked Kathy
if she was second it okay uh is
councilwoman um Littlefield on the
line yes I am and what what and I will
second that okay we have a motion in a
second with an alternate uh uh please
record your
vote I vote Yes
okay the motion dies and uh
522 now we are moving on to our next
council member and we have well actually
we have a motion and a second on uh the
amendment as stated um please record
your
vote the motion is just to repeat that
uh is uh councilwoman janik's
motion and
councilwoman Littlefield votes no the
motion carries uh five to2 uh um
councilwoman Janik you have the floor
thank you mayor um I would like to refer
to page 10 of the sustainability
plan and um the motion I would like to
make is to
remove the
90% um energy
targets with on reduce city-wide
greenhouse gas emissions by
45% by 2035 and delete 90% by
2050 and the next line reduce M
Municipal greenhouse gas emissions by
45% by
2035 and then delete and 90 % by
2050 second we have a motion and a
second and seeing no other hands to
speak we are voting on a second
amendment to the main
document councilwoman why that seconded
councilwoman Janik made the
motion further discussion okay please
record your vote
okay on councilwoman janx
motion yes you have a question yeah I'm
I'm a little bit confused because that
there were some references to 90% she's
she's basically deleting after 40 would
youe repeat the motion I will um Council
council member Durham you need to look
at page 10 on the executive summary
because after listening to all of those
young people I
decided to make the motion to include
the targets uh that are in the nearer
term
just but these are these reference
greenhouse gas
emissions and no she's refering to okay
so we we're ignoring the the part that's
number two on the outline she made a
motion on regarding two line items oh
okay thank you all right okay that's
fine okay um please record your vote we
I've asked for that and councilman
Durham how do you
vote okay the motion carries 5-2 with
vice mayor Graham dissenting
councilwoman Littlefield
dissenting uh
councilman Janik you have the floor okay
um water Targets on page 11 to remain as
uh currently written um we have made
tremendous progress on reducing our
water usage and I firmly believe that we
will continue in that direction
okay so I'm very comfortable with all
these
targets so there's no motion or any
change on water targets page 11 moving
on to
waste mayor do we need to make a motion
on that page I think we should I think
we should um let's stays as
it no okay thank
you okay um
next uh Beyond
waste which is
page 12
yours mayor may I take the floor on this
yes okay so I actually thank you
councilwoman Janik and mayor I had a
couple changes to this page um reduce
landfill
refuges uh by res by uh per residential
Refuge sorry reduce landfill um
residential landfill
refu by
25% by 2030 and I wanted to take away
the
90% until we get further down the road
and the reason I am so it ends period
after 20 correct 2030 and and my reasons
for this change is um just so people
know is because we are we want to target
the people that don't have access to
recycling right now like apartments and
um Condominiums um the other change I
would like to
make
um yeah let me look at this thank
you
um reduce Municipal landfill refu by 35%
by 2030 and also put a period there
remove the 90% for the moment and
Achieve um I would like to leave the
achieve um brush and bulk diversion
rates as is because this is a very easy
diversion and it saves Water by getting
this material out of the landfill and
using it as
mulch um I would like
to add um a residential and commercial
food waste collection service to the
Target because we're already working on
that and those are my
changes
second okay we have a motion in a second
I see councilwoman uh caputi wish to
speak yeah I have a lot of comments to
make but I'll just keep them shorter for
the moment because I want to address
councilman Graham's comments um the
reason that we're looking at this plan
tonight is because this count Council
has been working on this plan for I
don't even I've lost count of how many
years we've gone through these drafts a
thousand times along with seek along
with the community in conjunction with
our general plan and the reason that
again we are looking at it and not in
January is because we've done all of the
work and it would be irresponsible for
us to hand it off to a brand new Council
who would be starting from scratch and
undo again we've put in so many years
why would we not not look at it tonight
um I think that uh councilman Graham I I
don't see any mandates in this plan I I
heard a lot about that to me this is an
aspirational document it can't be a
green new deal because it's not
legislation and that's what it would
have to be in order to be some sort of a
new deal I I'm very certain that no one
is coming for our cars um in terms of
roundabouts yes we do have a policy of
roundabouts first but there's still no
mandate for it we consider them first
right because we've decided that that is
the safer way to go again after you were
on the Transportation Commission once we
consider um whether it makes sense
there's all the criteria that have to be
addressed and then if it makes sense we
have the policy that we would consider
it first I think my impression of this
plan is sort of in line with that that
we're going to cons consider caring for
our environment which I I thought most
of the residents of Scottdale had front
of mind so um I have a whole bunch more
like big picture comments to make and
I'd I'd like to make them but I don't
know where they fit in because we seem
to be doing this in little tiny pieces
so we we will have a um eventual motion
on the entire resolution as amended so
we're we're handling it that way okay
yeah I don't I mean it's eight I don't
want to slow things down but I have a
few important things I'd like to say but
I'll rest there for a minute that's fine
let's finish through okay at this point
we have a um motion and a second uh
please record your
vote councilwoman
Littlefield no uh the motion carries
five to to uh getting back to
councilwoman Janik thank you mayor um
let's uh focus our attention on uh air
quality page
13 and uh two changes that I would
recommend that I um I'm proposing is
that reduce Municipal Fleet fuel use
consist
with Fleet replacement
schedule and the reason for that change
is because we don't want to dump all of
our trucks it's very expensive they are
retired on a schedule and as those
retirements occur on schedule we would
reduce the fleet Fuel and that is a
tongue twister and then um the other
thing is just increase the number of
publicly available charging ports um I
don't think we need the numbers or the
dates I think that will be driven by the
public and EV cars so for for
clarification you're you're suggesting
that the third bullet point be deleted
and in its place instead of reduced
Municipal uh Fleet fuel use it would say
reduce Municipal Fleet Feet fuel loose
uh use consistent with so thank you
mayor yes and then on the final one um
you said uh that you were also going to
delete um or scratch the fourth bullet
and in and then uh or did no just put a
period at the end of available charging
ports increase the number of publicly
available charging ports so that's and
then scratch uh after that so there's a
period after ports I have a motion do we
have a second second there's a motion in
a second seeing no other further
discussion your
vote councilman
Littlefield Council councilwoman
Littlefield how do you
vote no okay the motion carries 5 to2
and moving on um councilwoman Janik you
have thank you thank you mayor um
extreme heat page 14 uh no change but I
do want to say that not only do the
trees in the shrub ingest carbon dioxide
and give off oxygen but the new studies
out of any
that had participation from around the
world showed that tree bark also has the
ability to break down methane which is
28 times more potent than carbon dioxide
is a greenhouse gas and that is new
research that has just been published so
I just want to emphasize how important I
feel the increased Tree in shrub canopy
is to saving our environment
so councilwoman uh would you like to
make a adoption uh resolution uh a
motion because we've gone through all
the Amendments okay does anyone else
have other amendments this is where okay
at this point you still have the floor
and thank you mayor okay so I'd like to
make a motion to move to adopt
resolution number
1338 as
amended
second we have a motion and a second and
and you know I will speak now again on
the general motion and we appreciate
everyone who who attended
um actually this is
a a four-part series okay for me it is
you know as an architect I always
promoted shaded walkways in Oldtown uh
I've done that for 35 years and trees
Etc so when I was elected councilman in
2000 we went to work on our general plan
2001 and uh we had six subcommittees I
happen to be chair of the
sustainability subcommittee and the
subjects then were the same water energy
infrastructure and quality of life how
that affected us um after that was um
adopted by the council and then was
ratified by the voters it became uh a
policy guideline uh uh uh for our whole
Community it also had a land use um
description and that's readily available
now if you fast forward to the year uh
2021 uh we once again as a council
tackled the general plan and the general
plan then has 24 elements including a
sustainab ility uh element um I say that
because it was also adopted unanimously
the general plan was and then it was
ratified by the voter so the subject of
Transportation or or ecology Parks rexs
uh Vitality tourism all those subjects
uh I've been around the block twice on
that on on those subject I will say in
uh 2010 through
2012 the C IL did not did not have a
general plan adoption and they didn't
have a ratif uh nor did the public
ratify it so there was a gap and that
Gap was really not tolerable when we
came to office in
2021 we we actually got it executed and
the public voted on a sustainability
policy guideline and many of the
definitions that you see in our document
today are derived from the 20 uh General
plan 2001 and the uh one that was uh
ratified by the uh public uh the third
go round was that uh in
2022 this Council looked at all the heat
mitigation studies that was in September
of 2022 we got the facts by satellite we
got the heat uh uh data it was all
provided through ASU and the research
began so this Council has been very
active on this whole
front partially because there had been a
gap and there was no General plan
2025 they dropped the ball that's the
truth okay now we have this guideline to
work with and the next uh uh task round
three was of course the sustainability
plan itself and that went to um for
thousands of comments and uh all of the
U people are credited in the uh study uh
because there were uh staff input and so
forth uh going into that I will say that
round number four round number four was
actually prop
490 prop 490 said we care about our
environment our built environment our
natural environment and there were those
who opposed prop 490 and they try to
convolute it and such and such it's part
of our sustainability of life it's part
of our quality of life and it was passed
by the public there's no question about
that and the same people that fought it
in in uh and I can say this in 2001
seemed to come up with all the
deflection and then the the uh General
plan
2035 they also came up with every other
reason when we it's our duty to sit down
and gather the um the community's input
and uh bring that to the public after we
adopt it win or lose right and and that
yet the general plan 2035 passed uh this
um um
sustainability will pass and um and um
the of course prop 490 has to go forward
because why because we want to prevent
you know fires in The Preserve and if we
don't remove those vulnerabilities we're
going to have a lot more toxicity in our
environment uh when it comes to safety
when it comes to handling the drainage
and and Indian Bend wash it's been taken
uh 50 years worth the punishment right
running running all the torrential rains
through it it needs to be rehabilitated
and all those things go together uh
making uh Park spaces uh points of Pride
whether it's a dog park or the new ones
that are coming on board are all part of
our commitment that we're looking at
today and instead we're there are some
you know suspicions and all these other
innuendos that are being thrown in the
way when you heard the young people say
gee guys uh I they are the present they
are the present and the future a lot of
the talk that you hear is not uh even
Forward Thinking so as we look at this
uh what has Scottdale achieved in four
times up to bat we've hit a home run we
hit a home run because we had to go out
to the community in general plan 2001
and we did it and that's a good thing
and the level of what we're looking at
in this document is two parts okay one
part is inhouse how do we take care of
our own Corporation because we'll get
emails from somebody saying the dang
City's pipes leaking and you're wasting
water and my taxpayer money is going
down the drain well it's Our obligation
to keep things you know up and running
and maintained well so that part of this
is municipal respons responsibility I
don't know who would vote against that
to say we're going to save money out of
this thing and and sure enough some
people vote against that they don't want
to save money I guess I mean how more
clear can it be so that's a task that we
have as a municipal Corporation go to
the largest employers in Scottdale they
all have sustainability plans it helps
their bottom line okay two of them are
nonprofits I won't say which is number
one but it's between the schools and the
Health Care System they all have
sustainability programs any Corporation
your home uh your home breakfast nook
has a sustainability how can we not
waste water how can we save on our
utility bills how can we keep the roof
you know over our heads in a sensible
way because inflation's going to happen
and if recycling if two of my kids
thought about Recycling and said hey Mom
I think it's worth it I would do that I
wouldn't say well we feel like we can
pay the bills and ship the plastic out
to China or something I come on we have
uh we have an education system where we
are making more progress more progress
by what the young person said talking
about it education it's not just in
rebates you know I'll give you $50 or
$300 if you change your toilet out well
now they don't make terrible toilets
that use two and a half gallons per
flush right they just don't make them
anymore so all these that's the
direction we're going from the
perspective of being a leader in this
subject right being a leader that's
where the municipal Corporation has that
duty to do that and if we can save
taxpayer money and save the environment
so that it's more of a a healthy tourist
destination but it's also my
neighborhood right and that that matters
um we've had uh root Awakening with the
drought situation uh fortunately um our
water system was very robust and uh
however our entire state is threatened
and it's not deniable some people say it
was fabricated so you know we had a
unanimous Council saying we're going to
be responsible for auditing ourselves
and our own water system because with
water comes energy they they can't be
separated so that's the uh character of
what we're bringing forward here and all
the suspicions that were used in all
those other defeats when they tried to
defeat the general plan and they tried
to defeat prop 490 ended up being to no
avail because Scottdale does step up
when we have to and we are very very
responsible I will of course vote uh in
favor of this and it's something that I
commend um our Council there was one
other member uh mil Haven uh who um you
know was on during the general plan uh
2035 so um at this point I see uh
council member Durham wishes to speak
councilwoman Whitehead and we'll take
this to a
vote council member Duram yes thank you
mayor it's all
council member Graham asked why are we
voting on this now but let's be blunt
about why we're voting on it now in may
this was put on our agenda and Bob
Littlefield sent out a email to his list
uh with a lot of
misinformation uh asking his friends to
bombard us with cut and paste emails
filled with
disinformation and as a result of that
hey bab as a result of that um I asked
to
postpone the vote so that we could get
more public input and we did get more
public input and that public input was
very favorable to adoption of the plan
if you read the public comments uh that
were collected in September you'll see
uh that the public comment we got in
September was very favorable and so
that's the reason that this has been put
off from May until now uh I would also
add that this has been under
consideration uh since
1920 not 19
2021 there have been five uh Council
work studies
sessions numerous public sessions for
collection of information and comments
uh so this is not going through at the
last minute uh it's been on the table
for five year four years and uh we tried
to get it through in May um I I moved to
put it off for more public comment which
we received um I'd also like to point
out for the record uh that the document
we're looking at tonight has been in our
hands at least two weeks I think it's
also been on the city's website under
the agenda for around the same amount of
time so there has been plenty of time uh
to absorb what's in this
document um but before I talk about
what's in the sustainability plan I want
to talk about what's not in it uh there
are no mandates page eight is very clear
on that it qu and I'm quoting this plan
is an aspect operational document and
not a mandate so there are no penalties
if targets are not met uh it's kind of
comical to hear uh council member Graham
complain about the lack of mandates uh
when we know that he would vote against
it if it did have mandates uh so it's
heads I win tails you lose that kind of
thing um and The Targets in here are not
fixed goals they reflect
according to the language and the plan
they reflect where we want to be if we
don't get there that's okay sometimes
it's got good to have a goal that's
slightly out of your reach and contrary
to a an email that's being circulated
this is not the green New Deal uh I am
not a climate alarmist I'm not one of
those who thinks we're all going to die
in 10 years uh if we don't do do this uh
but uh if we can do it and we can
improve uh our environment in a coste
effective way it only makes sense to do
it uh this is not California if you
don't want to buy an EV don't buy one no
one's going to come after you uh I've
read emails saying that they're going to
be spies to make sure uh that we're
using the right amount of electricity
and that our electricity use is going to
be monitored and that's just silly uh
much of the conversation around this
plan reminds me of the Oscar wild
quotation that a cynic is someone who
knows the cost of everything and the
value of nothing well there is a huge
amount of value in this plan and much of
it has already been accomplished uh the
city has been reducing Municipal WI
water use almost 10% since
2017 and that saves you money in the
form of lower taxes and for and lower
water use fees uh reducing water at your
own house saves you money uh you can use
more water if you want that's up to you
no one's going to police your water use
no one's going to force you to use less
water but it'll cost you if you want to
use more that's your choice
uh the city has reduced electricity
usage through numerous efficiency
measures this helps to keep Scottsdale's
taxes among the lowest in the valley
it's a benefit to you if you want to buy
energy saving appliances as the plan
suggests you're free to do that but no
one's going to force you once again it's
your money if you want to save money on
those appliances great if you don't
don't and we all know what summer heat
does to electrical bills I installed
solar units last fall and my July
electric bill declined by
37% this past summer during the hottest
summer SE during the hottest summer ever
and Uncle Sam paid for a large
percentage of that uh once again it's
your money you can do with it what you
want uh if you're an old guy like me it
may not be a payoff as much but if if
you're a young person in new house where
you intend to stay it's a no-brainer
you'll save a huge amount of
money one of the biggest complaints I've
heard about this is the target for
landfill re Refuge once again though
remember these are not mandates no one's
going to track how much you put into the
landfill but not reducing landfill waste
will cost you our current landfill is
reaching the end of its useful life
and a new landfill will likely be
farther away increasing costs including
fuel vehicle
uh vehicle wear and pollution and that
will all increase your costs uh if we
were forced to do that uh those
increased costs will go straight to you
taxpayers in the form of higher at costs
but if we can extend the use of that
landfill by putting less waste in to it
uh it'll save you money uh Mr Johnson
made many of these points they're all
very good points this is a way of saving
money uh it's not going to increase your
costs there are other benefits that are
harder to quantify and possibly harder
to control uh like the young Eagle Scout
here I had asthma as young boy I spent a
lot of time in hospital emergency rooms
and going to University Hospitals and if
if we can clean our air up that'll save
a lot of money it'll save a lot of costs
in the term of lower Health expenses so
this plan will save money uh for
Scottsdale citizens and that's one of
the reasons I strongly support it thank
you mayor thank you and you know I I'll
call on councilwoman Littlefield um if
you would uh please add any comments if
you wish
no thank you mayor okay thank you uh
next is councilwoman caputi councilwoman
janic and uh councilwoman uh so go ahead
councilwoman three I'll try to be as
brief as I can obviously we don't want
to be here all night but we have spent a
really long time on this plan and so I
had a few things that I wanted to say
first of all of course thank you to
everyone who wrote to us we had so many
comments thank you Andrew we got some
great feedback and I know that everyone
in this Di has read every single one of
these comments and we really appreciate
it I it's great to see how passionate
our residents are about the environment
who knew um I have heard no complaints
about costs or loss of Freedom when it
comes to restrictive land uses or zoning
or mandating our Green Building Codes we
actually do Place mandates on Commercial
development and multif family projects
in in order for them to address
sustainability this plan has no mandates
there are no punishments on homeowners
whatsoever it is resident and Market
driven as we've been saying what I've
heard up here for the last four years
from residents is concern about water
and a desire to protect our desert
environment Scottdale has always been
committed to environmental stewardship
and conservation we've spent billions of
dollars on the most sophistic iated
water treatment plants and Wells to
store our recycled water preserving our
land and limiting higher density
development to three small growth areas
we have sensitive design principles and
environmentally sensitive zoning lws
sustainable practices are nothing new
for us here in the city of
Scottdale almost 40% of our land is in a
preserve or open space and 50% is zoned
for single family load density housing I
keep hearing people say that we can't
think about sustainability and
thoughtful planning unless we turn off
all Economic Development I think that's
a false Choice our vibrant economy is
actually what allows us to maintain so
much open space and have such great low
density neighborhoods we need to be
economic economically sustainable with
the small amount of land that's
available this is how we maintain our
our high quality of life here and our
property
values and to put things into
perspective only 5% of our land is mixed
use or multif family residential and
multif family buildings use far less
land and water than single family homes
our population has leveled off we are
almost at buildout we want to ensure
that we have enough resources for the
Next Generation as we heard from all of
our young people today
this does not mean that we shut down the
city it means that we have to continue
to be thoughtful stewards of our scarce
desert resources that's what we've
always done here in Scottdale that's all
that this plan is doing and that's why
I'm in support of it thank
you okay councilwoman uh Janik and then
white did thank you mayor um I wanted to
address all the people that are opposed
to this plan and to be sure I received
hundreds of emails from those opposed my
biggest problem is I believe and I've
got some emails that are pretty pointed
uh that I will not share but I believe
that most of the information on next
door is false I would recommend that the
people who are against it go back and
read the plan and study and if they have
questions Google that question question
but read sources that are reliable from
accepted universities or uh
schools um the problem is we have people
who are spreading very false information
on next door it gets everybody riled up
it divides our
community none of us want that and what
I would ask is that in the future
everybody up here would please use your
power as a leader to unify the community
not divide it we welcome constructive
criticism seek welcomes constructive
criticism but what we don't welcome is
when you want to Fan the fires of
misinformation and divide our city and I
hope that in the future
the next Council does not have to face
what we've had to face in terms of
trying to beat back all the false
information what the mayor has spoken
about prop 490 prop 491 a sustainability
plan wow so I am asking everybody to be
thoughtful to be
respectful and study before you tell me
I'm taking money under the table I don't
know what I'm talking about these are
rules and regulations and we will not
have a free society that is just not
true thank you okay councilwoman
Whitehead and then we'll vote well I I
just want to also just add one more
point on to uh vice mayor Graham's
question why are we here tonight because
this Council we were ready to go ready
to vote and we acques to a campaign that
was waged partly by you and we did
receive an email uh that I think
councilwoman janik's referring to to
about the toxic and inaccurate posts on
next door that are not only not helpful
but they stir false information we just
can't afford that can't afford this as a
society the election is now over and
this plan is everything this city has
prioritized for
generations and I just hope that next
Council which is going to be very
different than this Council can just
simply work together for the betterment
of our community and not get dragged
into um you know weaponizing um things
that are actually pretty
non-controversial
so I I just appreciate what everybody
said I also read all the emails
including this one and I assure you that
our budget drives all we do not go and
spend money on that which will lose US
money where we have the lowest taxes the
highest quality of life for a reason and
it's because we we care about financial
and environmental sustainability so I'm
excited to vote thank you mayor we have
a motion in a second please record your
vote councilwoman Littlefield no so the
motion carries we now have a
sustainability plan five to two with uh
uh vice mayor Graham desting and
councilwoman Littlefield dissenting uh
with that we were we have concluded with
our regular agenda items we have a
second opportunity for public comment
seeing none I will close public comment
uh item 21 would be receipt of a uh
possible um petition that seeing none we
will close that item at this point um I
move to adjourn this meeting do I have a
second
second I'm asking if we voted on 18a
it's been a long night the we voted to
keep 18a but did we vote on it was
always on consent right sorry my
apologies it's all right okay so we have
a motion of second to adjourn please
record your
vote thank you we unanimous we are
[Applause]
churned for