The Axon project proposal for North Scottsdale should be able to stand on its own merits. For example, is a dense, multiuse development with 2,000 apartments needed? Does the project serve the community’s interests? Does it fit with the city’s character? Yet the proposal cannot stand on its own merits because it’s the wrong project for the wrong location. Square peg, round hole. In its recent refiling, Axon states in black and white that the development is meant to serve its own purposes: for its conferences, for its guests, and for its employees. Only out of convenience, when questioned, does the company insist the project could benefit anyone else.
Axon would have elected officials and the public believe they have amended the proposal to meet all of our neighborhood’s concerns. This is blatant gaslighting and untrue.
We’ve been very public about our foremost concern: density. Axon wants to build 2,000 apartments and a 425-key hotel, housing 5,000 people or more on 44 acres. That’s 100 people per acre, and that is dense.
The only way to reduce the density is to reduce the number of dwelling units proposed, which has not happened since last year.
This proposal has become contentious for two main reasons: 1) it is located right next to an established single-family home community, and 2) the land was purchased with restrictions that explicitly prohibit residential development. These key differences set it apart from other significant developments in the area.
No one in our community is arguing Axon’s success as a company. For us, this is not about the company itself. Yet, Axon has threatened to leave the city if they don’t get their way—more than once, indeed multiple times. It practices blatant strong-arming to try to get its way. Thus, the proposal is inextricably bound to the company.
In the years since Axon bought the land from the, the commercial office market has all State Land Trust but collapsed.
That’s how Axon had thought to develop the property (under existing zoning), which is what it told the city at the time.
But Axon changed its tune about a year ago and decided a densely developed project with a residential component would be better for its purposes. And, no matter what you have read, this proposal has not been in the works for this land for a decade.
This kind of project may have been a glimmer in someone’s eye for a time, but not for this specific property.
Taken as a whole, the proposal is just plain greedy.
As homeowners, we have much to lose if the city approves this project. Our primary concern is our property values, which are certain to suffer. And just think of the monstrous traffic the project would create in an already congested area, the water it would consume, and the noise and light pollution it would cause.
Elected city officials should be the guardians of the public trust for homeowners like us and you. Please contact your elected officials to express your opposition to this proposal.
-Susan McGarry, Scottsdale Stonebrook II HOA President