Scottsdale approves Ranch Gate 40 subdivision; deadlocks on Axon apartment referendum election timing

I'd now like to call the September 30th city council regular meeting and work study session to order. City clerk Ben Lane, uh, please conduct our roll call. Thank you, Mayor. Mayor Lisa Barowski, present. Vice Mayor Jan Debbie Bosquez, here. Council members Barry Graham here. Adam Quasman here. Kathy Littlefield here. Maryann McAllen present. And Solange Whitehead here. City Manager Greg Kate here. Interimm city attorney Louis Santea here. City treasurer Sonia Andrews here.

Acting city otter here. And the clerk is present. Thank you, mayor. Thank you very much. This evening we have Scottsdale Police Officers Sergeant Bullis, Officer Wilburn, and Officer Matthysse, as well as firefighter Tyler Folio. If anyone requires any assistance from those individuals, please let a member of our staff know. Uh this evening, I'd like to invite Councilman Barry Graham to give our pledge of allegiance. Thank you, Mayor.

My honor to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. And for the invocation this evening, I'll turn it over to Councilwoman Whitehead. Thank you, Mayor. And I have invited uh Reverend Christopher Warps to give our evening prayer. And I'm Oh, there he is. Okay. I I'll say a few words about him. Uh the Reverend is the lead pastor of North Scottsdale United Methodist Church.

He became a pastor because he treasures being present with people in life's most meaningful moments such as worship, weddings, and everyday connections uh that form authentic community. At North Scottsdale United Methodist Church, he helps people deepen their faith, build relationships, and nurture spirituality across generations. Christopher believes that faith is at its best when it inspires people to love their neighbors. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to the pastor.

Mayor Barsky, uh, councel people, thank you for, uh, having me. In my faith tradition, we believe that every person is created in the image of the divine and worthy of dignity. We believe that true strength is revealed not in power or profit, but in care for the vulnerable. And we believe that the love of neighbor is both the heart of our faith and the measure of a just community. You may not share my faith. You may not even be religious at all.

But surely you can see the truth in this that a city is at its best when it remembers the poor, when it makes room for the vulnerable, and when it seeks the good of all people. It is from this place that I implore you, mayor and council members, as you carry out the work of this city this evening to remember those voices whose are often not heard, the poor, the unhoused, the immigrant, the child without opportunity.

And as you deliberate tonight, may you recognize the image of the divine in the least of these. And may compassion and justice guide your decisions. Let us pray. God of justice and mercy, we thank you for this city and for all who make their lives here. We pray for these leaders entrusted with guiding Scottsdale. Grant them wisdom that looks beyond immediate gain, courage to do what is right when it is difficult, and humility to hear the voices of those most often overlooked.

We remember before you the vulnerable in our community, families struggling to afford housing, workers seeking dignity in their labor, children longing for opportunity, elders who need care, and neighbors who live without shelter. May their needs stand at the center of all of our concern. Grant this council a vision of justice that honors every race and culture, that protects creation, upholds the dignity of workers, and opens doors for those long shut out of opportunity.

Let Scottsdale be known not only for prosperity and growth, but for compassion and fairness and mercy. And we pray for these council members and our mayor themselves. Bless their families and strengthen them in their daily lives. and grant them wisdom to navigate disagreement with grace. Guard them from the temptation to see one another as enemies or rivals. And free them from the pull of blame or scapegoating. Where there is division, so respect. Where there is weariness, bring renewal.

And where there is anger, kindle instead a deeper commitment to the common good. Bless this gathering tonight. And may the decisions here reflect your love, your justice, and your peace. And may this city become a place where the stranger finds welcome, the child finds hope, and the vulnerable find refuge. Amen. Thank you. Uh turning to the mayor's report.

Uh this evening mar marks the conclusion of uh Councilwoman Jan Debascus' service as V vice mayor as part of our established rotation outlined in the mayor and council roles. Uh, first, thank you, uh, Councilwoman Tbasquez for your service. And I'm pleased to congratulate Councilman Adam Quasman on his new role as Vice Mayor, uh, Vice Mayor, now to be, soon to be Quasman. I look forward to working with you uh in this capacity as we continue to serve the residents of Scottsdale together.

Of course, uh possible executive session announcement. Uh, as is always the case, at some point during tonight's meeting, the council may elect to make a motion to recess into executive session in order to or in the event we need to obtain uh legal advice on an agenda item if authorized by council to do so. The executive session will be held held immediately and will not be open to the public. The public meeting would in that case resume following the executive session.

I'd like to turn it now to the first public comment period. Public comment is reserved for Scottsdale citizens, business owners, andor property owners to comment on non-aggendaized items that are with the in the council's jurisdiction. No official council action can be taken on these items and speakers are limited to three minutes to address the council.

If you wish to speak on a non-aggendaized or for that matter an agendaized topic, please see see the city clerk if you have not already done so. And uh I would like to point out that the council does not um answer questions or engage in comment during this period of time. So just so everyone's aware, uh we received, let's see, what do we got? We only have four speakers tonight. First, we'll uh invite Steve Sutton to come down, followed by Dan Isac, Brian Scott, and Gail Golick.

And I'd like to mention the new podium here is to our right. Everybody hear me? We can. Good evening, Honorable Lisa Barowski, Mayor of Scottsdale, and other council members. Tonight, I am submitting a petition that was signed by approximately 95% of residents approached for signature. It requests the city council take the reasonable course of action of conducting a parking study before spending millions of dollars on building a garage at the parking corral across from the old adobe mission.

The results of a parking study would be a winwin situation for the city council. It would either prove to residents that the city council is correct in supporting building or allow the city council to demonstrate they are reasonable leaders who can change their mind when presented with information that does not support their decision to build.

My research of the last 25 years of city council agendas, minutes, transcripts, and other documents indicates the decision to build a garage in front of the old adobe mission is not supported by scientifically conducted research. Building a garage is being promoted by a small group of people for political and economic interest. There are residents, business owners, and city council members saying the 2019 bond election requires building a garage. That is not true.

The text of the 2019 bond states that it is to provide funds to design, acquire, construct reconstruct improve furnish, and equipped public parking facilities. The 2019 bond language was incorrectly abbreviated on the actual paper ballot. It does not require building parking structures in Oldtown Scottsdale. The 2019 bond does not specify a garage location. The 2019 bond does allow building a garage at any suitable location.

There are residents and business owners and council members saying the parking corral across from the old Adobe Mission is the only location available to build a garage in historic Oldtown. That is not true. There is at least one other suitable city-owned location within walking distance of where I'm standing right now. The historical significance of the Old Adobe Mission has been underappreciated and unknown by the majority of Scottsdale residents. Publicity can and will change that.

The old Adobe Mission is one of only two United States Department of Interior designated historic places in historic Oldtown. In the early years of Scottsdale before and after incorporation as a city, the Old Adobe Mission was an important center of cultural events that residents of all ethnicities and faiths enjoyed. It is a monument to the social and cultural development of Scottsdale during the last 90 years.

The city council is failing to comprehend the negative reaction most residents have when learning the details of their plan to build a garage in front of the old adobe mission. This petition provides the city council an opportunity to do what is reasonable and wise. It is not too late for the city council to avoid alienating a significant percentage of Scottsdale voters. Thank you, Mayor Baroski. Thank you, Steve. Dan Isaac. [Applause] Dan Isaac address on record.

The assassination of Charlie Kirk was actually a national tragedy because it demonstrates how low society has fallen and we will not allow engagement with people with different opinions. It was even more poignant, and even though I didn't agree with many of Mr. Kirk's statements, that he regularly reached out to people with differing opinions so that they could discuss it civily. It's a shame that members of our council don't share that admirable quality.

For those of you who attend regularly, you know how Barry Graham uses rules of procedure to stifle conversation, whether it's a call the question or his squawking point of order. We know that he blocks people on social media. We know that he asks his supporters to report comments that are unflattering to him on social media. We know that he uses his mouthpiece, Rod Pritchette, and others to say incorrect, vile statements about people.

We heard at the last meeting how he inappropriately used police resources to try to intimidate Steve Sutton. We also saw a video where he tried to physically intimidate Mayor Barowski. and he recently worked with our city manager to try to stop residents from being able to collect signatures on petitions on Scottsdale property. Thankfully, our city attorneys stopped that. Barry is not alone in this bad behavior.

Jan Deboscus claims that she's the victim of lawfare when in fact she was actually the instigator and perpetrator of lawfare. Let me remind people what she said to the investigators in her interview. Ben, do we have the video or do I need to tell you? We we've frankly um have done a lot of research on can we just 5 to2 vote her out and that's not how that charter doesn't allow it. Um and so uh she either has to quit or she has to be convicted to be gone. Um so we're just not sure what to do.

Like you can't you can't trust these people. The four of us are friends and we're tight and Lisa's just always been a Point of order. There's Could you stop the clock, please? Point of order. Madame Mayor, um u Mr. City Attorney, do we have a decorum uh restriction on what can be what can be stated at at um uh at the podium for non-aggendaized items? Honorable mayor, members of the city council, yes, we do have a decorum rule. Okay. What What's your point of order? I had a question.

I would like to see I would like to ask the city attorney to remind the speaker of that of that decorum rule that we do have for this instance for the language that was for the language that was just portrayed just there. You mean Janoscus language? Yeah, I'm I'm I'm Can you just articulate the point of order? Vice Mayor Clasman. Yes, Madam Mayor. Um Luis, can you please remind the speaker about our decorum that we have at this city council chamber?

Mayor and members of the council, I'm happy to remind the speaker um the same rules of civil dialogue that apply to the city council apply to the to you, sir. and what you should have done is bleeped that out and um would ask you in the future to take that into account. Sure. Thank you.

So, not only did Jan participate in lawfare, but at the last meeting, she took a page out of Barry's playbook and she asked one of her supporters to complain to the police about an interaction that I had with her. Jan, I will not be intimidated by you. It would surprise people that I'm actually a conservative and I was an active participant in the Republican party for most of my adult life. I was even an LD23 state committee man for GOP. I'm a conservative for many reasons.

Three important ones are one, I believe in the Constitution. It applies to all of us, not just those who curry favor with elected officials. Jan and Barry apparently feel differently. Second, I believe in fiscal responsibility. Janberry presided over a blowout budget that recklessly spends our tax dollars and cuts into our reserves. And lastly, I believe in law and order. Filing false criminal complaints against opponents and using the police to intimidate them is the opposite of law and order.

They are not conservatives. They are trying to spend your money unnecessarily and squash your rights. Thank you. Thank you. Uh Brian Scott file followed by Gail Goo. Can I have the projector, please? Okay, first I want to express my sincere appreciation for Mayor Lisa Barowski. Everyone seems to be giving her a hard time, and Scottdale is lucky to have someone skilled and capable in the saddle. Tonight, I want to address the latest tourism funding, 75,000 for the Bentley Polo Party.

Here's the page web uh from the uh let me find my place again. Here's the page from the event website. It shows Hila River Resort and Talking Stick Resort sponsoring the event. These sponsorships disqualify the event from funding according to funding criteria. This is the 14th annual polo party. Scottsdale has supported it for many years. Yet staff analysis amidst the history council. The event website says at the bottom, you can read it here.

A way to stand with Ukraine at the Scottsdale Polo Party. Flyers handed out at last year at the event state, quote, do not perpetuate the enemy propaganda. Quote, "Do not invest or spend money with companies doing business in Russia." and quote, "Abandon isolationism." Council funding an event signaling bias and promoting political agendas during a deadly international conflict does not align with Scottsdale's brand.

It alienates people and raises questions about the anti-discrimination ordinance. Even more disturbing, the sponsored group affiliated with the Bentley Polo event has scheduled an event in Scottsdale Public Library on December 4th titled Lady Death. promoting wartime snipers and glorifying assassination. This is not appropriate, especially not without public scrutiny.

So, I'm requesting an audit of the Benley Polo funding for this year and the previous three years under section 7 of the event development funding agreement contract 2025126. Finally, changes to the tourism development commission bylaws are bizarre and alarming. funding criteria has vanished into thin air, replaced with language that says, quote, "A code of ethics is not necessary," and quote, "Rules may be suspended for particular individuals." End quote.

Follow the instructions of the commission chairperson or be removed from the meeting. End quote. This opens the door to arbitrary enforcement, censorship, and systemic corruption. Scottell's tourism brand has been built over decades with western spirit, professionalism, and civic values. Scottell can do better. Thank you, Gail Goolick. Mayor Barowski, members, thank you for the opportunity to speak. My I am here to petition for a report.

The Arizona uh revised statutes section 45576 requires that every new development in an active management area must demonstrate a 100year assured water supply before approval. It's before approval. That means enforcable proof of water, not just promises in a contract. The public records department confirmed that no records exist showing 100 years assured water supply for the Axon project. A promise to purchase storage credits is not proof.

The law requires enforcable contracts and a portfolio analysis. Scottsdale is relying on a designation issued in 2013. The original supply and demand analysis is not on file. The renewal application for that designation is still under review by the Arizona Department of Water Resources and it is not final. Axon's only water obligation is 3,000 acre feet of storage credits and it is suspended by the referendum and unenforcable.

If zoning is overturned via the referendum, that obligation disappears entirely. We are missing the um we have a lack of portfolio analysis showing how Scottsdale will cover the Axon's projected demand of about 688 acre feet per year for a 100 years. Without it, there is no guarantee water supply for this project.

Before any action, we I request that the council must require proof that Axon has secured the water through binding contracts, an updated enforcable portfolio analysis analysis showing the city can cover Axon's demand for 100 years, or acknowledge publicly that the city of Scottsdale is not in compliance with current state law as required by Arizona Revised Statute Section 45576. Thank you. Thank you very much. That concludes the public comment on non-aggendaized items.

So, I will close public comment in that regard. Next, we have the approval of the minutes. And uh if there's no revisions, I will entertain a motion to approve the special meeting minutes of July 2nd, 2025, executive session meeting minutes of July 2nd, 2025, regular meeting and work session minutes of July 2nd, 2025. So moved. Second. All those in favor, please indicate. Thank you. Next, we move to consent agenda items 1 through 14A.

Do any members of the council have questions on any of the consent items or requests to move anything off the agenda? Consent agenda, that is. Go ahead, Councilwoman Whitehead. Thank you, mayor. I just have a comment. Uh, one of the beauties of city government is we actually are connected to our residents. So, I am looking for the item number. Maybe somebody can help me here.

We had a group of students, part of the mayor's council, um, come forward with a proposed ordinance to make electronic uh, I guess cigarette devices, uh, abide by the same rules as regular cigarettes. And tonight we're approving that ordinance change. I'm projecting an approval and I'm just thrilled. And so I just want to remind everybody that Scottsdale is a 240,000 person city that acts like a small town. So thank you. Thank you. And uh thank you for beating me to that.

They're they're up here today. And so good job. Good job you guys uh getting ahead of the curve and proposing ordinances to stop outdoor vaping. So that's uh in public spaces. So that's great. So having not seen any uh other questions or request to remove, I will now entertain a motion to approve consent agenda items 1 through 14A. So moved. Second. All those in favor, please indicate your vote. Mayor, I apologize.

We have several individuals signed up for public comment on the consent items before we vote. Sorry. Thank you for for pointing that out. Actually, it's one of the mayor's council members. Great. Uh and then we also have Brian Scott for item number eight. So, let's take Brian Scott first. Thank you, city clerk. Thank you. I'm here to strongly oppose the $150,000 city funding uh for the Day of Death event, especially since it's double the city's stage maximum of 75,000.

The event is disturbing and alarming. Uh this is not a Catholic holiday like All Saints Day. Day of death is rooted in Aztec religious practices involving human sacrifices, cannibalism, and death worship. Practices that Spanish missionaries condemned as satanic in which many still view as spiritually toxic today. At the center of this celebration is the Aztec goddess of death, said to have been sacrificed as a child then married in the underworld.

Giant skeleton installations, including what appears to be skeleton wedding ceremony, directly echo this Aztec death goddess mythology. Promoting this with public funds is a serious cultural and spiritual distortion. This is why Scottsdale, a city known So why is Scottsdale, a city known for family values and civic pride? Paying a Los Angeles company to import imagery rooted in blood ritual. Even more troubling, the financials used to justify this funding don't appear credible.

The report claims over 600,000 in expenses for the 2024 event, but this is unudited and suspect. Key numbers feel inflated, inconsistent, and cherrypicked. The event is marketed to Los Angeles in Mexico, and it's being staged at a historic Catholic church, adding religious confusion. This is not cultural celebration. This is cultural rot subsidized by the city of Scottsdale. And I urge you to cancel this funding. Scottsdale can do better. Thank you, Mr. Scott.

Uh, I'm going to bounce back to consent agenda item one, and that is the Ardan Scottsdale, and I'll ask Meen Pankowitz to come speak. Thank you. Um, thank you, mayors, mayor, and council members. My name is Milen Penkevich. I am a property owner at 303 North Miller Road, Casad Amigos. I want to preface all this conversation by saying I am a planner. I am aware of the difference between an abandonment and whatever approvals are for zoning or just regular design on specific zoning.

But I'm here um for the record because our residents are really upset regarding the design of the Ardan. So, um, I'm here ahead of the DRB hearing to give you a heads up on our community's concerns regarding the layout and design of the development, which at three stories will remove our solar access from the west side of our two-story building.

I want to let you know that we're fully aware of the R5 requirements for setbacks and understand that the developer can build to the minimum standards of R5 zoning and three stories. We don't oppose this. We don't oppose the abandonment even though they barely have talked to us about uh the kinds of accesses that we would need to our properties but we do oppose the complete lack of context sensitivity that was given in setting this plan up for your review.

Uh, from the perspective we will have at Casar Amigos, our southwestmost building has bedroom windows that if the development is approved and built will completely lack natural light and privacy with a new three-story building only 21 ft away. I want to remind the council members that uh Scottdale average width of traffic lanes is about 11 ft. So this is less than two uh lanes of traffic away from our windows.

Um in addition along our west side we have landscape and decades old mature trees that we will see completely reduced to null. Um in terms of solar access killing our landscape and screening from this abiding three three-story development that would cost a perpetual shadow on our trees and our bedrooms. Our largest concern is the minimal separation provided between buildings in the uh Ardan southeast corner and our units in the southwest corner.

We have reviewed all the existing R5 developments adjacent to each other in our neighborhoods and we could not find a similar condition where the distance is so minimal between adjacent developments and new construction is only relying on the established development to provide all of the buffering and most of the setback. In every case, despite being able to build to minimal and no setback in R5 zoning, design considerations were always applied to ensure solar access and privacy.

These con considerations have not occurred in this case. Um, approval of this development as is will set a precedent in our neighborhood for non-contextsensitive construction that leaves behind the permanent consequences of poorly planned building locations with no access to natural light. We have worked in faith with the developers representatives on our concerns and they state that they are unable to recog reorganize the layout of the site to provide more distance and natural light.

This is a shame because the 21 foot distance between our building and their proposed building will not only reduce our property values, it will also reduce theirs and affect their landscape as well. Everyone would benefit from more distance between our buildings. Thank you for hearing me out on this topic. Of course. Thank you very much. Going back to item uh number 11, Sid Gupta, come on down. Good evening, madame mayor and city council members. My name is Sid Gupta, address on file.

I'm a junior at Desert Mountain High School, and I'm here representing the Scottsdale Mayor's Youth Council and the Scottsdale Youth Substance Abuse Coalition. We presented a petition to the city council at the May 20th city council meeting regarding prohibiting the use of vapes in public areas and conforming to the state's Arizona Smokefree Act. and I'm pleased to see that is that it is on today's consent agenda.

I'm grateful for the support that I've received from all the city council members, city staff, as well as organizations such as the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, and the Campaign for Tobaccofree Kids. I thank you for taking this important step in improving the public health of Scottsdale. Thank you. Thank you. And I'd just like to congratulate you again.

The determination and commitment you've shown as a part of the mayor's youth council has been really in really refreshing and incredible. And you've you actually got something passed. Good job. So, all right. More than most legislators can say, right? All right. Moving right along. So, now we will go back to our regular agenda. Oh, we're going to vote on this first. Consent agenda items number 1 through 14A. Uh we have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please indicate your vote.

All right, moving right along to our regular agenda items tonight. That passes. Uh item number 15.

Item number 15 is a request to adopt ordinance number 4686 for a zoning district map amendment from single family residential district environment environmentally sensitive lands to single family residential district environmentally sensitive lands designation on approximately 40 acre a 40 acre site consisting of two parcels for a 32 lot subdivision community at the souththeast corner of East Ranch Gate Gate Road and 112 Street.

I see Jesus Marillo, senior planner with the city is here to give us a presentation. It's all yours. Yes, thank you. Good evening, Mayor Browski and vice mayors Dvascus and Quasman and the and the members of the council. Again, my name is Jesus Planner here with the city. Today, I'll be presenting in front of you 8ZN 2024, also known as the Ranch Gate 40. Um, thank you, mayor.

Yes, that is a request to reszone from the R1130 with the environmentally sensitive lands overlaid to the R135 over those 40 acres. It's a little slides a little busy, but there were some key considerations that um were developed during the process and also from the planning commission to this point that I'd love to point out. One, the project is located within the Dynamite Foothills character area.

The project will be requesting amended development standards with the final plat and as and as such with the increase in density and amended development standards the applicant is proposing to the justification with additional natural area open space. Um there was some concerns received from uh neighboring properties uh which the applicant I won't steal thunder from them. They they will address you and how those have been uh addressed.

Um, also in your supplemental packet, I think you might have seen some comments, some additional comments from some residents. And I just wanted to point out that most of those concerns are uh to be addressed uh through existing codes and ordinances. I also wanted to point out that a resident did speak uh in favor of the project at the planning commission hearing. So, the site is generally located on the southeast corner of each ranch gate road and 128th street.

As you can see, that's about a quarter mile down from the McDow Sonoran Preserve to the north and about 3/4 of a mile from the McDall sonor and preserve uh to the east. Um, as you can see, it is surrounded by on the north, east, and south boundaries by the Story Rock uh subdivision, and the McDow Mountain Manor, which is now tied into Sereno Canyon, is located immediately to across the street to the west. This is a closer look at the site.

As you can see, there are three large washes that that intersect onto the property diagonally. Um, and that kind of created natural building envelopes for where development would occur on the site itself. So, again, uh, the site itself is zoned R1130. Uh, to the north we have, um, R170 and R118 with the planned community district. And that planned community district applies to the entire um, Story Rock property.

So you have R135, R118 both to the or to the east and to the south and R143 on that Mcdow Mountain Manor site and the applicant is requesting to reszone to the R135 also with the environmentally sensitive lands overlay on top of that. So busy slide um and it's here just in case you have questions. But if I would first like to direct your attention to those boxes that you see in blue and in orange. The existing zoning allows for 31 dwelling units per acre which calculates the 12 lots.

And the current proposed zoning uh without any uh amendment to it. The R135 allows for 1.04 dwelling units per acre which is 41 lots. Now, although that that's the zoning that's being requested, it has been stipulated and capped at 0.80 dwelling units per acre totaling uh 32 lots.

And if I may also direct your attention to the bottom of the slide, the property as per straight uh ESL standards is required to provide 14.45 45 um acres of natural area open space and the applicant is proposing to provide 18.32 acres of of NaOS with 13.3 of those being in tracks and that's about 70%. Uh this is the site. We'll zoom in a little closer. As you can see, the proposal has one entrance coming onto the property from each Ranch Gate Road.

And although that will be the primary access that is used to to get to the private street tracks in the lower southwest corner, the bottom leftand corner here, there is also a secondary access point that serves kind of in three different uh for three different reasons. Um the first one, it will be emergency access if needed to evacuate the site or if just needing uh access to a secondary access to to the site as you see it here today.

There will also be a trail that is located within that area to connect the this community to the trail system that is located along 128th Street and it will also be used as construction access during the time of construction for the site itself. Uh moving on to the circulation plan. We'll blow that up a little.

As you can see, the the project has been stipulated to provide 50 feet of desert scenic roadway off of Ranch Gate Road and then an average of 100 feet of scenic corridor that is located along the 128th Street frontage with the ordinance uh restricting the minimum of that to being 85 ft in length. Next, looking at I'll zoom into that as well.

Looking at the natural area open space again as you can see 70% of the NAOS is going to be located within track A or tract B which is preferred by the ordinance and the remainder of that natural area open space will be on lot. This is uh the the site plan uh that is super imposed onto the that green area that you see there is the existing open space surrounding the property. So you can see how it does how it ties into the surrounding open space.

Uh there were questions about density and surrounding areas. Again, the density being proposed for this site is 0.80 dwelling units per acre with 080 dwelling units per acre just across the street. 77 acres dwelling units per acre on the Eststeria Highlands located about a/4 mile south. And there is a total of a 96 dwelling units per acre that was approved for the Story Rock project that surrounds the remainder of the project.

So, some of the updates that the applicant did again in relationship to the during the review cycle. The first one was that there were residents that were concerned about uh construction access uh acting on coming in through East Ranch Gate Road, which is where the applicant then uh agreed to the secondary access off. Now, I again not to take thunder away from the applicant. I know that they have a stipulation to further um impose how traffic accesses this side.

I'll allow them to present it, but staff has it also in writing in case it is approved that we can read it into the stipulation since that occurred uh between yesterday and today. The lots were reduced from 33 to 32. And then um this one I will speak a little bit about because there was some uh some misunderstandings on on this point here.

uh a resident had requested that there be a street light for illumination to be located on the site and because uh this uh intersection qualified as a conflict point by transportation they agreed that this would be a good site for a light the applicant agreed to that as well.

Um through that discussion people misunderstood that the street light for illumination to be a light signal for directional and that conversation kind of uh formed into into uh people disagreeing with what should happen at the intersection. So again we want to make sure that it's clarified that it is a street light and not a light signal being proposed at this intersection. Um some other discussions that have been had are about 128th Street.

So currently um as you can see here both the street classification map and uh the classification changes as per the as per the transportation master plan right now have designated 128th street between each ranch gate road and Joeax as for emergency access only. Um, currently the development that is located uh adjacent to this site, which is this white area that you see around the yellow triangle, uh they are stipulated by a development agreement to have access through 128th Street.

But once that construction has been completed, it will revert uh it will continue to be for emergency access only. Again, the applicant does have a stipulation that they would like to propose to further stipulate traffic to not come up and down 128th Street. Uh the planning commission heard this case on August 27th and recommended approval with the vote of 70. That concludes staff's presentation. The applicant I know has a presentation and staff is here to answer any questions.

Thank you very much Jesus. And next we have the applicant presentation uh given by Keith Nicker with Kimley Horn. Hello. Good evening, Mayor Browski, vice mayors. Um I wasn't sure when the baton was handed, so I like the way Jesus said it. So congratulations on this. Is it is it now? Is it official? All right. My name is Keith Nicter uh 2046 uh Riverview Auto Drive, Mace, Arizona. I'm a land planner at Kimley Horn.

Got members from the team here from our engineering side as well as our client Emerson Holdings. Um been working with them in this area for a long time. um probably has contributed to a little bit of the gray hair in my beard that's starting to come out. But uh um it's been a good time and it's been cool to see this area develop and um also get to meet a lot of the residents out here that now live in these communities and um are really enjoying it. So um Jesus did steal most of my thunder.

So I did prepare a full presentation, but I'll go ahead and skip through most of it. I'll just give you kind of the the cliff notes version. Um but uh just try to highlight some points and then provide some some color. But the the site as Jesus mentioned um is essentially surrounded by Story Rock. Um it was an out parcel at the time. Um they did not want to be included in the zoning at the time.

They were unsure what they wanted to do with the land, but we agreed to kind of walk with them through the process. So, we actually planned for this site um in all our master reports for Story Rock um from both an engineering standpoint and an infrastructure standpoint. So, uh unique site from the standpoint that all the infrastructure is built um the water and sewer was accommodated for the site. Uh infrastructure stubs were built to the site. So, essentially it's ready to go.

Um, and when we factored in um, what this site might be, we went ahead and used the the maximum that the the general plan would allow, which is 40 uh, lots. So, essentially, this site's been uh, anticipated to be 40 lots in in all our uh, engineering master plans as part of Story Rock. Um, I'll skip through this slide here just because a little zoom in of the aerial, but you gota look at that from Jesus's presentation. Um, Jesus mentioned the general plan designation. It's ruled neighborhoods.

Again, that allows the the maximum of uh 128 per acre, which would be 40 lots. Uh within the general plan, um uh big focus for these rural areas is the preservation of natural vegetation. Um one of the ways they allow for that is through clustering of development. You see this throughout North Scottsdale. Um it's a great way to not only use development envelopes um and amended standards, but um to create developments that allows you to put the lots where they belong.

Um so uh through the use of development envelopes and uh clustering we essentially feel that we've created um the most sensitive plan possible. Um when we look at sites uh like this we we typically first look at the the general plan and uh the surrounding context to see what's uh doable. Again we anticipated 40 lots here but as we started to look at the site specifically we realized that probably not appropriate. So you'll see kind of the the zoning pattern that was uh set up through Story Rock.

You kind of see the larger lots on the perimeter and then the smaller lots were interior to the project. So while we probably could have gotten 40 lots here, um we thought it was more appropriate to look at the R143 density which has kind of been established um around the perimeter. Um I'll I'll mention why we went to R135, but essentially the density that we use is the R143, but um wanted to kind of recap um the community outreach.

I saw the the staff report had a lot of the same email repeated over and over. So uh I'll I'll give you the again the cliffotes version. So had a neighborhood meeting back in January. Time flies. Uh there was about 16 neighbors that attended at the time. we had a 33 lot plan. We always like to put our best foot forward uh to try to accommodate what may be coming. Um so we felt like we did that but through that process uh we felt like it was appropriate to lose a lot.

So that's the the 32 lot plan that we have today. But the discussion points that we uh discussed was drainage u and water and sewer. Um we have approved uh water and sewer reports and drainage report through this process. Um, so we've addressed our concerns there. There was questions about the HOA. Um, we will not be a part of Story Rock. We're not a part of the DA or or the the HOA, but the idea would be that the HOA would be set up to match the character of Story Rock.

Uh, traffic um were less than what was approved and uh the overall uh TEMA that was approved with the Story Rock uh plan. Some of you may remember it was actually approved anticipating the potential Greasewood Flats moving over there, which obviously is uh never going to happen. But um that being said, there was a lot more uh trips anticipated for this area. So we're well beyond uh below that. Um with our our 32 lots, there was a concern about building height. We've committed to one story.

Um this matches the character of the surrounding area. uh lighting will meet the the city's uh intrinsically dark areas requirements for all lighting. Again, we did uh add um that light at the corner based on staff's concern about safety at that intersection. Um through all the the confusion about whether that not that was a a street light or or traffic signal, we've agreed to work with the neighbors moving forward.

Um the next step if approved would be uh a pre-plat which goes to the development review board. Um they're the ones that approve specific lighting. So we'll create a phototric plan um that can uh that we can discuss with the neighbors and look at specific lighting fixtures that are is going to essentially set us up best for those dark skies.

uh while there was questions about wildlife while it's not required uh we went ahead and uh performed a biological study and um everything looks uh good out here questions about fire uh that was a a big uh discussion point and why we ended up revising the site plan to remove a lot um we ended up putting in the emergency access and then um also we discussed about the benefits of the plan that we have today which is the uh large amount of tracked NOS because that will be maintained by the HOA rather than being onlaw NOS that's maintained by a individual homeowner.

So that'll be allowed regular maintenance throughout the community to get rid of you know potential uh you know dead branches and thing uh brush that can uh be a potential hazard. Um then uh the last thing that was kind of the the big thing again that we kind of coupled with the the emergency access was uh neighbors were concerned about construction access coming down Ranch Gate. So we've agreed to remove that lot and provide a constru temporary construction access on uh 128.

So that um will alleviate those concerns. Um again here's the plan. As I mentioned, uh, we look to try to create a plan early on. And as you guys know, we we like to get out and have discussions early about creating a plan that's going to hopefully avoid you guys getting uh calls. So, uh, we're we're hopeful that we we put that best foot forward. But, um, the reason we looked at R143 was uh, uh, density because it it meant uh it matched the existing character.

But the reason we went with R135 is because we can use smaller lots to create more tracked open space. Um you'll see here that we use the R143 in the right hand column. We use the R143 density um lot width, uh building height, front setbacks, side setbacks, and rear setbacks. So we're consistent with R143 from that perspective. But the one thing we uh wanted to use that R135 uh zoning category and um lot size was was for that tracked NOS.

So essentially on the left is what we could have achieved with a R143 zoning. Um we could have gotten the the essentially minimum 32,000 foot lots with a 1acre average. Um to be honest that's more beneficial to our client because they'd be able to sell those lots for more money but um we've worked with the city a lot and understand the the desire to have more tracked NOS that's maintained by the HOA.

So we've reduced those lot sizes again same density same lot widths and setbacks but you'll see all that dark green on the right. That's the the benefit of using that R135 and and amending those standards to to create the majority of the site uh as tracked NOS. And so out of that um additional NOS that we provided, 71% of that is in tracks, which is probably a record for me.

So, um um as far as uh kind of the highlights goes, uh Jesus mentioned we recently received uh 70 recommendation from planning commission. We've worked with neighbors throughout the process. You probably saw a recent uh letter of support from um one of the the neighbors that had a lot of questions and and we're hopeful that we've been able to resolve all those and and it seems to be that case. we can we'll continue to work with them through the the pre-plat as far as the lighting goes.

Um but again, we wanted to match the character that's already been established out here. So the 32 lots was more appropriate than than the 40 the general plan allows. Um it creates a plan with 50% essentially open space for the community. Um and again it fits within the master plans and it has minimal impacts. Uh again, it's just 4% of the Story Rock area, large buffers, and uh recently we actually got David Weekly um under contract if this gets approved.

So, we're excited to add another high quality builder out in this area. So, with that being said, we do have a stipulation that we've worked with staff on um that I can uh bring up here. So, it re uh revolves around the again the emergency access um that exists on 128th Street. Um so, we'd like to keep it that way. Uh again, we won't be uh a part of the DA with this uh project.

And so, we've agreed to come up with an additional stipulation um that would make sure that no construction access is uh taken through the preserves. So, not only are we adding that temporary construction access to the site, but this would uh remove the the access through the preserve as well. So, with that being said, happy to ask answer any questions. Thank you. Uh first, I'm going to take uh there were two speakers listed for this. Uh Carla followed by John Ball. Thank you.

I'm Carla, a preserve pioneer and peaceful valley resident. Um, as you saw in the presentations, this development is south of the preserve, what's called gooseeneck. And the reason I'm here is when this came before the planning commission, there were comments about multiple comments about when 128 street is paved north all the way to Rio Drive. And then there was discussion about should there be, you know, a traffic signal or a roundabout.

And the issue is that not once during all that discussion did anyone on staff or anyone point out that 128th Street will never be paved through the preserve. And it says so in the transportation action plan that this will ultimately have emergency access only gates put up to protect the preserve. So I'm here tonight to clarify this with the public and to ask the city council to use this as an opportunity to finally solve this problem.

Thankfully, these applicants were willing to put this stipulation in there that said they will not take their construction vehicles through our preserve. And I appreciate Councilwoman Whitehead and Dascus for working with them on this. But two more actions are needed. The first thing is better signage on 128th Street on the northern part of the preserve gooseeneck and the southern part of the preserve gooseeneck.

You need big old signs that say this is preserved land and ultimately this will be gated emergency access only. And the reason that's so important is when you have residents coming in there and they don't know this is what's going to happen. It's harder to take things away after the fact. That's why when we bought preserve land and cited the access areas immediately put up huge signs saying there's going to be a trail head here.

So, if you buy near here, you're going to be next to a trail head and that helps avoid problems down the road. The second thing that is needed hopefully is a drop deadad date as to when these gates go up. Um, because the longer you wait, the longer you create problems. And I hope that the city council will address these issues so we can solve this problem for once and for all.

Because currently along 128th inside our preserve there is gating along I mean there's fencing along both sides and that needs to come down so the wildlife can travel freely. So those are my requests and hopefully we can use this as an opportunity and thank the applicant for the stipulation. Thank you. Thank you John Ball. Good evening. Um, if the applicant could pull up maybe the the plot map. Uh, I don't know how to project this for everyone to see. Um, so I'm here.

Uh, I live in Story Rock and I've been looking at this piece of land for a long time. The whole preserve is beautiful. We all acknowledge that the Tom's Thumb Trail Head is one of the crown jewels of Scottsdale. It's a big tourist attraction. probably tens of thousands of people hike that trail every year. And I have no problem with the u the proposal here. They've done a good job. But I wanted to suggest a few amendments.

As we all know, when we drive into the preserve area, it's a beautiful piece of land. And um unfortunately when you see homes that have been built right next to the road on Ranchgate, there's some pockets there as well as on 128th Street. You can see into people's backyards and their patios and even their living rooms. Uh they're so close. And I know here the applicant has said that uh they've allocated 100 ft minimum on Ranch 128th Street. You'll see there on the left.

Well, 128th Street is one of the most trafficked roads in this area because it leads directly to the Tom's Thumb Trail Head. Uh whereas Ranchgate Road on the north side is hardly trafficked in comparison because that's just where residents live. You will also see on the southwestern side a lot of land that they've allocated for open space, which is great.

The only problem about that southwest side and that north side is that no one really sees that uh in comparison to all the drivers and people who come to to hike the trail.

So, what I would like to propose is the applicant revise the plot map here to where those five lots on the western side be reallocated and moved to either the north side or the south side or both where no one sees that land in comparison to all of the folks that drive down 128th Street both to get to the trail head and to come back. I think we all agree we want to keep Scottsdale scen clean and scenic and looking into people's backyards. 100 feet is not that far away.

It's probably from my where I'm sitting to that back wall. So you can imagine when you're driving by, especially as a a long term longtime Scottsdale resident or even even a visitor, they would say, "Why would they put home so close to the road? it feels like I'm driving through a neighborhood rather than through a preserve. So, I'd like to request that that change be made. And then additionally, uh, right across the street from 128th Street, Sereno Canyon is being built out.

So, you're going to have probably three different pockets of land that are being developed and ripped up simultaneously. There's already two being developed. And when you go up to the Tom's Thumb trail head and you start hiking up and you look down, you just see a lot of construction going on. And I think if we want to keep Scottsdale clean and scenic that they should temper the development time and and uh put a moratorum until the other development is done uh on those other pockets of land.

Thank you. That concludes the speakers on this item. And uh let's see, Vice Mayor Dasquez has something to say there. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um I I first wanted to ask our city manager if you have the opportunity hearing Carla's comments if we could uh take a look into those and see if there's some improvements that we could make that she's suggested. I thought those were those were nice comments. Madame Mayor and Vice Mayor, yes, certainly. Thank you. Okay.

Thank you, Carla, for your commentary. Um, also I had a question for the applicant and for staff regarding the um, light at the intersection. Is that going to be a lighted stop sign? Is that what is that light going to be? It'll be a street light. Um, but the city has different essentially lighting criteria for different parts of the city. Um, this is a in in the intrinsically dark areas. Um, so there's certain uh lumens essentially that can be used for street lights.

So it's not going to be like a bl your, you know, a typical street light in a suburban neighborhood. Um, so it'll be real lowle. Uh, and again, um, as we go through the DRB process, part of that is identifying the lights fixture as well as the photometrics. And what that does is map out essentially light pollution so you can see how that affects the surrounding area.

Um, so we can come up with a light fixture that's going to uh address the the concerns from the neighborhood, but it'll essentially be uh a street light is just be low uh level lighting. It's like a dark sky type street light. Okay, great. Thank you very much. Thank you, Councilwoman Whitehead. Uh thank you, Mayor. Yeah, I also want to thank Carla for her remarks and in fact it's something we've been working on since last year.

want to thank the applicants for working with us on this particular case. So, um yeah, so look forward to more action, but that's not tonight's agenda. Um I'm pleased with the um the use of the larger lot density but the smaller lot designation so that we get the maximum amount of uh open space that's uh as you called it the community tract I think is what you and that really matters I think both from a visual standpoint from a a wildfire prevention standpoint and from a wildlife um standpoint.

So very good. Uh so with that um I am I move to um adopt ordinance number 4686 for a zoning district map amendment from single family residential district environmental environmentally friendly environmentally sensitive lands R1130 ESL to single family residential district environmentally sensitive lands R135 ESL designation. on the 40 acre site consisting of two parcels uh for the 32 lot subdivision community. Although I don't see any more questions or comments.

So all those in favor please indicate your vote. All right, that passes. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next, we have mayor and council items. First is item 17 uh boards, commissions, and committees 2024 annual uh report presentations. Tonight we have presentations and possible direction regarding key accomplishments, major actions taken, upcoming opportunities, challenges and or outcomes of the following public bodies.

First uh airport advisory commission then we'll have the citizens bond oversight commission followed by human relations commission and finally transportation commission. Welcome ladies. Uh, airport advisory commission. We have I I see Kelly. Uh, not Peter though. Uh, that's correct, Mayor. We have Vice Chair April Babuff joining us today as our chairer was not able to attend. No problem. Welcome. Thank you very much for being here. I'll give the floor to you. Thank you. There we go. Okay. Sorry.

So, can we advance to the next slide, please? So the airport advisory commission is designed or was created sorry to advise on various aspects of airport operations, proposals for development, airport area land use, fees and safety concerns. We currently have a board of seven members who assist the staff and advise the city council on aviation related issues.

What I would like to emphasize here, because I appreciate that you all can read this slide, is that um all of the seven board members that are serving on the commission, including myself, we all come from diverse backgrounds. Some of us have backgrounds in aviation, some of us have backgrounds in business, some of us have backgrounds in other um areas, some of us are retired, some of us are still working on our careers full-time.

But at the end of the day, what unites all of us is that we have a real shared interest in aviation and we appreciate the jewel that the Scottsdale airport is for our city and particularly as an economic engine and a business model. So with this I will we will advance to the next slide. And so 2024 we had some key accomplishments and major actions that were taken by the commission. The first one being the approval of the five-year capital improvement plan.

So this was very important for the airport. Um this goes across fiscal year 24 2425 to fiscal years 2829. So that sets the strategy and the stage for the years to come. We received a grant uh sorry no I take that back. We received an award from the Federal Aviation Administration for Western Pacific region outstanding airport of the year. We received an FAA grant to support our airport master plan. So that's a huge win for us.

And then last but not least, we continue to be a self- sustaining enterprise fund. No general fund dollars are used to operate the airport. And that's an amazing business model for the rest of the city to follow as well. If we could go on to the next slide, please. Thank you, mayor and council members, for the opportunity to talk to you about the latest and greatest things that we have going on at the airport.

As you know, we're entering the busy season, so we have a lot going on at the airport, but for tonight's purposes, I'll focus just on these three items that we have on the screen. The first two we're very excited about. These are grant projects that were awarded to us by the FAA. Just within the last month or so, we got the grant awards for both of these projects. When it's an FAA grant-f funed project, the FAA is covering 95% of the total cost of each of these projects.

The remaining 5% is split evenly between Arizona Department of Transportation Avionics Group and the Scottsdale Airport. Both of these projects are in line with the airport's mission of safe and efficient operations. So, we're very excited. We should be getting these projects started sometimes sometime later this year and hopefully completed later this year, if not early next year. I want to focus the majority of my attention tonight on the airport master plan.

As vice chair had mentioned, last year we received this grant also from the FAA. The funding was a little bit different though. Last year, the FAA covers 91.06% of the cost of the airport master plan, leaving 4.47 to be covered by AOT and the other 4.4 47 to be covered by the airport. What is a master plan, you ask? It's a visionary planning document for the airport so that we can anticipate upcoming aviation changes within the industry over the next 20 years.

We want to be prepared as possible to make sure that the airport is providing that level of customer service that we're currently providing. So, what do we do with that? Well, this particular master plan, we're very much focused on getting our economic impact study updated. So in 2024, we are having our subconsultant take a look at what airport and air park aviation related businesses are doing to impact the economy.

Another focus for us, if you've been up to the airport recently at all, you'll see we're built out. We don't have a lot of space, but we have a lot of demand. So we want to use the master plan to look at airport and air park land to see what's available because not only do we get requests for more aircraft parking, we also get requests for more vehicle parking. As more users come to our airport, more businesses come to their airport, we need additional parking.

But again, not just for aircraft, but also for vehicles. And what I really want to point out to you tonight is the discussion about larger aircraft. Now, let me clarify, larger does not mean commercial. We do not have commercial service at Scottsdale Airport, nor do we anticipate that coming to us at all in the near future. The airport currently accommodates aircraft that are up to 100,000 lbs in maximum certified takeoff weight, which is a 100 foot wingspan.

But we get requests every week from our current users and operators and from operators that want to be at Scottsdale airport to bring in bigger aircraft. So we're working with a variety of different departments within the FAA and other aviation stakeholders to see is that feasible? Is that possible? And can we maintain our safe and efficient operations? So that's a little bit of what we have going on. The next master plan openhouse is going to be November 13th at the Signature Private Hangers.

It's right next to our aviation business center. We hope you all can attend 5:00 p.m. open house drop in style. So, we invite everybody for that and we look forward to bringing the master plan towards the mayor and council for your approval sometime in early 2026. So, if we could go on to the next slide, that wraps up as quickly as we can at our very busy little airport. And if you have any questions, the vice chair and I are happy to answer them. Great job. Thank you for the presentation.

I don't see any questions or comments. Uh, sounds like you've got a lot going on. Uh, Councilwoman Littlefield, do you wanna Yeah, I would like to repeat the date of the open house, please. Yes, mayor, council members, Councilwoman Littlefield, it will be Thursday, November 13th, 5:00 p.m. In the signature private hangers, it's the two large hangers that are right next to the aviation business centers, will have signs and staff out there directing you which way to go. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next, we have Citizens Bond Oversight Commission. And for the two individuals that turned in the petitions, uh don't fret. We're going to go back to those to direct staff on on those. Thank you. I see Aaron Walsh, staff representative, and Joe Dubois, chair. Dubo. Dubo. Okay. Sorry about that. It's okay. I get that a lot. I'm sure you do. Uh, thanks for being here. Uh, the floor is yours. All right. Can we go to the first slide, please?

Uh, mayor and city council, we are here to talk about the citizens bond oversight committee. Um, this committee was established by ordinance after the 2015 bond election. Um, that ordinance was amended after the 2019 bonds were passed so that the committee could oversee all bonds that the city has. Um the committee's purpose is simply to receive reports on the implementation of the bond program and really to oversee the funds associated with the bond program.

Um they review any proposed changes to the program and provide comments to the city council um as as they deem appropriate. This group meets four times a year. Um they have seven members that are appointed at large to two-year terms. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to our chair to talk about what we've been up to lately. Thank you, Arman. Uh, good evening, uh, Mayor Barasi and members of the council.

My name is Joe Dubo, and I'm currently serving as the, uh, chairman of the, uh, bond oversight committee. Um, I think, um, I would begin by u reminding uh, and reporting to the council that our our charter, our task is not a one of policym. uh we essentially uh monitor the spending uh that has been uh allowed through the bond and try to make sure that the money is spent correctly and appropriately. Uh we do not make policy u we defer to the council for that.

Uh from time to time of course we will make recommendations and uh sometimes we hope that those recommendations are followed. Uh in any event, uh the um accomplishments this year, I think I would point out that uh we've been able to transfer uh a number of the funding uh from one completed project to another with savings to alternate projects within the same question. Remembering uh that the the bond was divided into three question areas.

And uh so uh it's appropriate if we uh have a a project and we've had some that come in under budget and we have some savings that we're able and have been able uh to recommend transferring uh those saved funds to other projects so long as they're within the same uh the same question.

Uh in addition to that uh another um method for helping to move the funds around in the proper manner uh we we have funds that actually earn interest and uh this year we've been able to um allocate some of the interest earned to other projects and to help meet shortfalls and in some of the other projects again so long as those projects fall within the same uh question the one of the three question areas. um upcoming um opportunities and challenges.

I think uh what I would report to the council is that uh as projects are completed uh in the in the coming years uh there there should be opportunities presented to us uh to transfer savings again to other projects that we have within that that same question area. Uh, one of the things that we also do is that we evaluate uh recommended changes to some of the projects either in scope or um duration or whatever.

And and we've had a few of those that we've done this year and recommended uh changes back to the council again because you're the policym uh body. Um I I think that uh one of the challenges that we have and uh I'm sure you've heard this as well. Um, this is a a bond that was approved in 2019 and and I think that uh one of the criticisms that I receive and I'm sure you do as well is the uh the length of time that it takes to get projects done.

Not only the length of time, but the conccomant problem with that is that because of inflation and so forth, we have increased costs of the projects. And so we're constantly dealing with that issue of uh gee this is costing more than uh that we thought it was going to cost uh when the bond was passed. Uh so that is a challenge.

Uh one of the ways that we're able to uh adjust to that of course is we're able if we have savings in one project we are actually able to to get that saving moved to another project. Um, I think uh with that uh rather than continuing to bore you and keep going on, I would uh entertain any questions that you may have. Otherwise, I would be remiss if I didn't u take an opportunity to thank uh uh city staff uh who make our job so much easier.

Um we u have the fortune good fortune to have Aaron here who who uh runs liaison with uh with the council and and with us also Allison Timkco our engineer and uh who marshals all of the information relating to the projects for us and Dan Worth who often uh comes and uh and elucidates on on many of the arcane uh uh issues as well. So with that uh if there are no questions that's all we have at this point. Thank you. Thank you very much Mr. Dubo. And thank you Erin.

Oh Vice Mayor Dascus pardon me has some question. Thank you Madame Mayor. Um thank you Erin for your presentation for your hard work. Uh Mr. Duboce, thank you for your service as chairman on the committee. Um, over the course of the last couple years, we sure have heard a lot about inflation and the cost of projects, and over the last several months, we haven't heard so much about that. Are you about to spring a whole bunch of big projects on us, or or are things going a little bit more better?

How how's it going? You know, I think uh I I think we're still going to have that problem. I I think it's an incessant problem. I don't I don't think that's going away. I think one of the things um that um have helped address that is of course some of the funds that the council has allocated from from the general fund have have met some of the shortfalls.

Also uh a number of the projects just by the very nature of the project has has tended to take longer time and so I think that's stretched out a little bit so we're not actually in the situation where we're actually having to put the money down. So I think it's out there. I think it's hidden and I think it's going to raise its uh ugly head again when uh when time comes to allocate the funds. I don't think inflation's going away at all.

City Manager Kaden, I see you squirreing in your chair over there. I did. Anytime we talk about budget, I get interested. So, Madame Mayor and Vice Mayor, thank you for the opportunity to say a few words.

What I would add to the discussion is we have added a process for our city system as we move forward our capital projects and specifically a capital review team and that was instituted shortly after the budget review committee uh had discussions in the spring and implemented in May of this year and we've used it in twofold.

First of all, for 2526 uh budgeted projects, uh we have what was referred to as a readiness form, and that is crossep departmental led uh by uh Alice and Tim Q's team and city manager's office. We really see if it's ready. Uh as you probably are not surprised, uh we have a significant list of capital projects and every department wants them to get started July 2nd. We don't quite have uh the resources to kick those off. So we really look at spreading those resources throughout the fiscal year.

The second uh significant component of this capital review team is to look to projects as we look in the outer years to see if they are ready and I have a poster child project as an example that's bond project. It was the cactus pool and I remember in our discussions uh through the proposal of we talked about the estimated cost. I think it was approximately $31 million that was estimated back in 2017 and then proposed in the 2019.

There was discussion if this was likely going to be on target and the answer was unequivocally no. So what we are instituting in many projects in advance of funding the full project cost is a feasibility study, a scope, something of that nature. And we have embarked on that for this spec specific project and a number of other projects to really understand is this the best location. I'll just use cactus pool as a good example.

Is there an alternative location that might uh present an an alternative for council's consideration? So that's a good example. And let's just say hypothetically after the feasibility it comes back and says it's 50 million. Then we come to city council, which I'm used to budgeting, and we bring $31 million worth of bond, and then we present options upfront on how to fill that gap. Uh, I understand that is very different than our historical process.

I think we've kind of funded the 31 and then would kind of add over multiple years until we got to a 50 number. we'll know that upfront uh before we initiate a project after intense and in-depth uh scope and feasibility. So, thank you for the opportunity to add a few comments. Thank you. Thank you. I don't see any other questions. So, thank you for being here. Appreciate it. Next we have Human Relations Commission.

And I see Kelly Kelly Corsett, staff representative, uh and Chairwoman Tina Drews. Thank you for being here. I'll turn it over to you. Thank you, Madame Mayor, members of the city council for the opportunity to talk about the Scottsdale Human Relations Commission. Uh and if we could just go to the first slide where we'll go over the uh purpose and makeup of the commission.

Uh the human relations commission was established by city ordinance in 2000 and uh their primary purpose is to advocate and promote all dimensions of diversity as stated in that ordinance. They act as an advisory body to uh the mayor, city council and to staff and uh they will make recommendations on ways to encourage mutual respect and understanding among people uh to discourage prejudice and discrimination and to work towards cultural awareness and unity.

Uh and the commission per its purpose may also make recommendations as to special events. Uh next slide please. Uh the makeup of the commission is seven residents uh appointed by the mayor and city council who collectively shall be broadly representative of the diverse demographics of the community. So no particular um professional expertise in any areas, just seven residents who are willing to step up uh and serve on the commission.

Uh and with that, I'll hand it over to chair Tina Drews to uh go over some of the accomplishments and upcoming challenges. Next slide, please. Thank you, Kelly. and and good evening, mayor and city council. Um, as chair of the human relations commission, I am honored to be able to share some of our accomplishments and some of our challenges.

So, uh, this last year, uh, we heard quite a bit about, uh, many actions around the state and nationally regarding, uh, impacts to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Um with all of that work, we uh proceeded with creating a new strategic plan uh recognizing the changes um you know environmentally. So our strategic plan moving forward focuses really in four areas. Many of them are focused on community.

So you'll see community partnerships and collaboration outreach resources communication, and then finally um an area focusing on accountability and metrics which we know is important moving forward as we talk about some of the um upcoming challenges and opportunities. On the next slide, I would like to express some of my concern about the growing disconnect between the city council and the human relations commission. most notably the passage of ordinance 4662.

So despite its significant implications for equity and inclusion, the commission was not consulted regarding this um this ordinance. This omission not only I believe undermines our advisory role which is through our ordinance but also diminishes the value of our commission. When the council bypasses the commission on matters of such importance, I believe it sends a message that the voices that we represent, the residents and the expertise we offer are not valued by the council.

The lack of engagement risks eroding public trust in the value of commissions and has lowered the morale among our commissioners that serve on the human relations commission. in our and in our opinion weakens the city's broader efforts to foster an inclusive community. I respectfully urge that the mayor and council re-engage with the human relations commission as a proactive partner in shaping Scottsdale's future.

We know and you know that our city is strongest when we lead collaboratively with transparency and inclusion at the forefront. I appreciate your time to share this this evening. Thank you, uh, Councilwoman Mckllen. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, thank you, Mr. Corset, and thank you, Tina. Um, I have attended some of your meetings. Um, I thank you for what you do, uh, standing up for all the citizens of Scottsdale. I do feel that you're a valuable, valuable, um, commission.

And please know that I understand it was very brave of you to come here and to tell the council um what you just said and I appreciate that you're sharing it's not just your views of the entire commission and for all of you to band together and bring that to the sometimes it's not easy to be up here and hear things constructively said um the way you want or the way we want right as council. Um, we don't want any citizens to feel that they're not being represented.

Uh, so I just want to thank you for what you do and continue to represent all the citizens of Scottdale. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Whitehead. Ah, thank you, Mayor. Yes, I am sure that was a little difficult to come and reprimmend this a little bit.

Although the residents don't have any problem at all reprimanding us, but I will say that um yeah, that that was done quite a while ago and there's always I always look forward and I think your remarks um I like what you guys have your four priorities or I I can't remember the word you used and I do think that this council will engage and I certainly will um because um these community is a good focus. and community is in fact all of us. So, thank you. Thank you.

Uh so, I voted in favor of that measure, but I appreciate your comments and uh I couldn't agree more with you. um that was quickly and so I think you point and I appreciate you saying that. Um, I do think probably could have done better in terms of serving that up and um a little more uh better thought out. So, I appreciate your comments completely. Thank you. And I'm sorry, I just want to clarify that this statement was written by me. I did not necessarily have it approved by by commissioners.

they these sentiments though are based on many conversations um over the last six months. So yeah that it it sounded like it was delivered in a good spirit. So I think that's all good. Uh so thank you very much for being here. Thank you for your work and continued efforts. And uh with that we're going to move on to the last commission which is the transportation commission. And uh this evening we have Nathan Dom uh staff representative.

And uh instead of the chair Mary Anne Miller, we have Oh, you're here. Oh, good. I thought you weren't here, but we've got two for the price of one. So, we've got the vice chair Carrie Wilcoxen and Chair Maryanne Miller. So, thank you for being here. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Barrowski and members of the council.

Yes, we have two for the price of one because um Chair Miller is up in October and so we thought it was appropriate to have Vice Chair Wiloxin who will be stepping in as chair uh to sit on this as well. So I will go right into the next slide. So we're we're introducing both the commission and our subcommittee tonight. So we'll have a little bit longer of a presentation than most of the other ones tonight.

So our commission was created in two in 1988 consists of seven members appointed by the council. The transportation commission shall advise the city council on matters related to safe and efficient movement of motor vehicles, public transportation which includes but is not limited to pedestrians, bicycles, equestrians, trail users upon designated paths and trails, streets and all elements of the transportation network in the city.

Those are mostly done through two major components that we go in front of the commission for on a regular basis which is the transportation master plan in accordance with the community mobility element of the general plan and then also the city's capital improvement program and its operating budget for transportation.

Another important component of our commission is that it's a public forum for citizens to request transportation uh changes and and any other transportation matters that they feel should come up. Then our passent trail subcommittee which was created in 2009 following the trails uh master plan consists of five members also appointed by the council.

The comm the hazard trail subcommittee provides its recommendations to the transportation commission and shall review plan modifications and improvements to sidewalks, bike paths, bike lanes, bike routes, equestrian paths, bicycle facilities, bike facilities, and equestrian facilities except those within the Mcdal Preorn Center where they already have their commission. Next slide, please.

So our major accomplishments with the transportation commission and major actions taken uh in 2000 in 2022 we adopted the transportation action plan and so through the course of the years afterwards we've been trying to implement those sections. The transportation commission has also reviewed several projects including the Jackrabbit Miller pedestrian crossing which has been completed.

The 124th and Shay underpass which has also been completed now and the Miller Hayden Miller road bridge and Rawhead Wash flood control project which has also just been completed. So three major capital projects have been completed and reviewed by the transportation commission. And then another one of their major tasks is reviewing neighborhood traffic management uh the the neighborhood traffic management program exception approval as well as the approval of the construction.

So when a resident sees a concern for speeding in their neighborhood, we have a policy and a and a standard operating procedure with our traffic engineering group to review that, study it, and then come in with recommendations. The on multiplication. Put a long transportation commission. Next slide, please. The Pent Trail subcommittee's major accomplishments was also the transportation action plan. Also, capital projects um reviewing for non-motorized improvements.

Last year, we had several presentations and conversations about the desert foothills trail expansion project. Um there was also a citizen petition and looking for ways to accommodate their concerns and add those trails which have now been um implemented with revisions based on the concerns from the residents. And then unpaved trail easement review.

When a citizen up north has concerns about the trail easements, this is a body that they can take it up in front of and and suggest their concerns or whether we should release those easements or maintain those easements. And then the evergoing conversation about the path and trails network gap analysis. Next slide, please.

And so opportunities and challenges upcoming is also the transportation safety plan, the local area infrastructure plan update, and then the unpaved trail expansions and improvements that we we bring to them every once in a while. Next slide. So that completes my conversation and Oh, yes please. I'd just like to add I started on the transportation commission when uh Council Member Graham was chair. Uh he taught me everything that I know. Thank you.

It has been a it has been an honor to serve for six years. The members of the commission um have varied backgrounds but a wide range of interest in transportation and planning and safety and making sure that um Scottsdale residents have the best opportunities and options for moving around this city as safely as they can. Um, you know, we started the safety uh action plan this year and we will I will leave that in the great hands of Vice Chair Will Coxin.

Um, also want to comment that the uh members of the commission um also live throughout Scottsdale. So, we have input from South Scottsdale and North Scottsdale and a wonderful wide range. And thank you. Thank you, ma'am. That's great. Did you want to add anything? Uh, madame mayor, councel, I appreciate the opportunity to serve. Um, and I'm going to be filling some big shoes when Maryanne leaves.

Uh, but it's um it's I've worked on both sides of the uh um public sector uh cit staff and now commission. And it's uh it's a great uh great system and I appreciate all the help that our staff have given us and continue to give us uh and all the support from the city council members. Thank you. Thank you very much. Uh Councilwoman Mckllen. Thank you, Mayor. Um I just wanted to say thank you, Nathan, and I see Susan up there, too. And Allison, thank you so much.

And to the other staff members, and to both of you for serving. I love the bringing in, you know, deepening the bench, making sure you're prepared. Uh, and obviously from Councilman Graham, I served on the pass and trail subcommittee. Um, three of the four plans that you talked about tonight that have been completed, we voted on, and that is so exciting. I know it's years later, but it, you know, it takes a while and I know how hard you guys work and how much people expect out of you.

So many aspects of transportation. So, I just want to say thank you do and I I'm kind of a transportation and really consider applying in the future or other commissions because I think this is the end of your of your two terms. Correct. So, um, the Jack the Jack Rabbit Miller, that was a good project. That was a very good project. 124th Street and the bridge didn't go well the first time around, but we got it done the second time, right? Yes. Why we brought it back to commission was Yeah. Yep.

Um, Miller Hayden. So, you guys do a lot of important work and um thank you for reporting to us and good luck. Uh, Vice Chair Wiloxen, thank you. Thank you all for being here. Appreciate it. Thank you.

I'm going to circle back to we did uh receive two petitions earlier this evening and uh we're going to look at directing the city manager to agendaize these uh for further discussion or direct the city manager to investigate the matter and prepare a written response to the council with a copy to the petitioner or take no action. First, uh, I'll turn to the petition to the city council to investigate parking management and preservation of the old Adobe mission area.

I believe the crux of this petition was to agenda a parking study. Is that right? Do I have that right? Yeah, I might. Okay. So, does anyone uh I'm I'm going to go ahead before I I make I transition. I'm going to make the motion that we uh this is an issue that's come up a couple of times and I for one would love to see it agendaized uh to a uh future council meeting. Uh but at a minimum uh direct the city ma manager to investigate the matter and prepare a written response to council.

But I'm gonna go with number one. Direct the city manager to agendaize the petition for further discussion as my motion. Do I hear any seconds? So, I'm I'm happy to second it because this keeps coming up, although I think we're going to end up with two and I'll be satisfied with that.

But this has just been an issue that has come up again and again and it does seem worthy of a I don't know if a work study session just to talk about whether we need a parking study because we're relying on one that's quite old. So that's my not very strong second. But thank you mayor for making the motion. Uh Councilman Graham. Thank you mayor.

Uh, please allow me to make an alternate motion to direct the city manager to investigate the matter and prepare a written response to the council with a copy to the uh, petitioner. Thank you. I'll second that. Okay, we'll vote on the alternate motion first. All those in favor? I mean, I'm gonna vote no because I want this agenda, but uh if that's the best we can do, I'm in favor of it.

ask for is to have uh staff either have it agendaized for further discussion or direct staff to investigate and prepare a written response to the council or take no action. Vice Mayor Dascus. Thank you, Madame Mayor. I spoke with the petitioner about this yesterday and I confirmed with her that she um would like us to direct the city manager to investigate it and prepare a written response. So, I'll make a motion um to do so. I'll second that. All those in favor, please indicate your vote.

All right. Thank you very much. Uh Ben, did you city clerk, did you have some things to say? Oh, thank thank you, mayor. I just wanted to mention on the uh board and commission presentations that actually completes the presentations. Uh just a brief recap, we started this back in July. Uh 18 boards and commissions have presented before the council since that time. Your feedback and your suggestions were really appreciated. Uh so that actually ends the process for this year.

And on the October 21st agenda, it will be a consent item for you all to consider approval of all the board and commission reports for the 2024 year. So, uh, thank you again for all the feedback. We really appreciate it. Thank you. I thought that was well done. So, appreciate you scheduling those.

Next we have item uh 18 which is also under mayor and council items and this was at my request uh to agendaize review of possible call for an election and proposed ballot language for a March 2026 special election.

And I'm requesting uh the council support the idea of directing uh city clerk Ben Lane to agendaize an item for discussion and possible council action on October 7th, 2025 at our next regular council meeting to consider draft ballot language uh for the referendum petition serial number ref-1-2024 uh and a resolution calling uh for a March 10th, 2026 special election. And I'd like to um expand on uh why I've asked to have this added to the uh mayor and council items this evening.

On September 18th uh 2025, the city manager uh issued a report on the citizens petition that had been delivered to the city council. I think it was back in July uh regarding the Axon referendum election. Uh I trust my colleagues have all had an opportunity to read that September 18th report from the city manager. Uh the information in the report um in my opinion I I would have preferred much to have that earlier 230 days earlier uh after the uh petition the referendum was certified.

uh back in January of 2025. And uh for the record, to prove I'm persistent, well, I'm back again to talk about this because I feel strongly about it. Since last April, uh I've been asking or um there's been requests for discussion uh from community members also to have a council discussion on the Axon referendum.

Uh those discussions have been um opposed uh by the majority of the council and I am once again requesting that we direct the city clerk and interim city attorney to issue a call for election and proposed ballot language related to the Axon referendum petition which would set a March 10th, 2026 special election to be considered uh for our consideration on October 7th at the next council meeting.

The referendum petitions were received in December, verified January 28th, 2025, and ultimately certified by the city clerk on January 30th, 2025. The first opportunity we would have had to hold the election would have been May 20th, 2025, which uh raises certainly raises questions for me.

um primarily why wasn't the council notified immediately of our options about possible dates for the election and why did it take until a July citizens petition uh to trigger a report uh with the information that was clearly available back when that was certified. Uh Glendale, as I've talked about before, I think up here, has had the exact same situation as us with a petition referendum submitted to their council in December 2024, and their election was in fact held on May 2025.

Our residents and voters uh deserved a far speedier resolution and uh so did Axon, a major business in this community. So, I'm not sure what happened here. Uh, the petition to hold an election allowing voters to decide the fate of the Axon project has now been delayed for almost two years if we wait until November of 2026. Had we scheduled, this is a really important fact, hindsight is uh always way clearer.

Had we scheduled a May 2025 election, uh, Axon would have not yet been to the state legislature. Uh, and even if they had been, um, seeking relief from the legislature, I I certainly doubt that the state legislature would have been so bold as to interfere with an already scheduled city election. And I think we could have saved ourselves a lot of grief and uh and not dealt with that had we had a timely election in May.

Um, I bring this up now again because October 13th is our final uh deadline for the city council to call a special election and approve ballot language so that we can finally let our voters I think there were 26,000 people who signed petitions uh finally let our voters have a say in the march in in a an earlier election on March 10th. We are running out of time, I think, in patience for voters that want to resolve this issue one once and for all.

I think our residents and our voters deserve the opportunity to vote on the biggest issue uh that's come before this council in a very long time. Certainly on the newer members uh clock, that's for sure. And uh I'm sure I'm going to hear from uh council colleagues that have said a number of times that this is disenfranchising the voters, that these are lesser attended or le lesser participating uh elections.

I just want to point out before that discussion lights fire that if it's okay for our general plan to go before voters during a special election, it sure seems like it'd be okay to put the biggest issue not only in Scottsdale uh certainly of 2025, but outside of Scottsdale also, not that they'll be voting in our election, uh but certainly uh I for one think it's nonsense that our residents have not been given the opportunity to vote on such a big issue that has divided our community uh to a degree that I don't think we've seen, at least not as long as I've been around city hall.

And importantly, it's unfair to uh those residents that took their time to sign the petitions. And uh it is definitely uh in my estimation unfair to ax on uh to have been in limbo for far too long. So with that uh I would make a motion to agendaize this discussion for October 7th. Uh I think I've said you know what the content is uh for the that agenda item and I hope my colleagues will support me. I'll second the motion. Thank you. May I speak to my Yes, of course. Uh, yes.

I think that this process, first of all, I agree with everything the mayor said. I think this process has exposed uh loophole, so to speak. So when a city council votes on an item and the public disagrees, they're cons they're restricted in how much time they have to get out there, collect petition signatures and justify a referendum. But what we found out through this process is the elected officials don't have any such constraints. So the assumption and we know how those go.

When the when our city clerk verified that sufficient signatures were collected for the process, the assumption would be that like the city of Glendale, the voters that signed that and the voters that didn't sign it would have an opportunity to have their voices heard in May. And that didn't happen. And the argument then was cost. But of course, we've seen um cost. We've seen contracts written with expensive attorneys that don't even have caps for legal uh for challenging laws.

So, I don't think cost is really an issue. And then along comes November. We could have had this referendum go to the November election with minimal costs. Well, that didn't happen. And so, once again, we're looking at the next available date and we're hearing about costs.

But again, if costs were an issue, then the anonymously funded pack that is pushing for this to be in November, if they were concerned about costs, maybe they wouldn't sue the city of Scottdale for a law that every one of us opposed. So, uh, I do support this. The longer this drags on, the more division we create in our community and the more money attorneys get from what I can tell. So, I support putting the uh election in March. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Councilman Graham. Thank you, Mayor.

The constitutional election for November is the date that 27,000 Scottsdale residents who signed the referendum petition were led to believe it would be held. altering the date to a nonconstitutional date such as March is the date lobbyists have persuaded some up here to support. The voter referendum on Axon's resoning is statutoily scheduled for November 26. That's the date the pe when signers signed the petition were led to believe it would occur.

And some people have come and spoken to us asking or are saying if it does if we don't schedule it for March 2026 then we can't get it or it won't happen. And that's untrue. It is scheduled constitutionally statutoily for November 2026. Holding an early taxpayer-funded special election raises serious concerns such as reduced voter turnout. Uh as you may know, special elections draw much lower turnout. Um typically 20 to 40% for a March election that you would get in a general election.

And what does this mean? This means that a minority of voters would decide the fate of Axon's 1900 apartment project instead of a majority if it was held at the date that voters that signers of the petition expected. I believe such a transformative project demands maximum participation to reflect the will of this community. Another major concern with altering the scheduling of the referendum is the exclusionary voting process.

March special elections rely solely on mail-in ballots and they exclude residents who prefer or rely on in-person voting. This risks undermining equitable access to the democratic process. It's troubling that some advocating for a special election also opposed or failed to support legal action against Senate Bill 1543, which you know as the Axon bill and is signed by Governor Hobbes.

That legislation attempts to nullify Scottsdale's referendum backed by 27,000 voters, raising questions about whether an early election prioritizes corporate interest or your interests. Additionally, critics of an estimated $600 to $800,000 of legal cost to fund a lawsuit to defend your voting rights. overlook that a special election in March would cost nearly $700,000. Non-reoverable expense borne by taxpayers. Their selective focus on costs ignores the broader threat to our democratic process.

So in summary, the Axon referendum is scheduled and statutoily set for November 2026, and altering that scheduling risks disenfranchising voters and er and eroding your trust in Scottsdale's governance. Thank you, Mayor. Councilwoman Littlefield. Thank you, Mayor. Um, oddly enough, I have very much the same uh points um that uh Mr. Graham gave. This is statutoily scheduled for November for the November election. And that's what people voted to do was to have it put on the ballot at that time.

If you put it in a March election, you have a special election for one issue. That's extremely expensive for that issue. You're going to pay that $700,000 additional fee to hold a special election for this which is already scheduled for a different election and will be held on that election. Also, a March election will be mail-in ballot only.

Traditionally, when you have a single item on the election ballot and it's only a mail-in ballot, you have a much lower turnout from your citizens for that election. It's just the way it is. It's it's the numbers that add up and don't add up. So, you're disenfranchising folks in in effect to to vote on this issue. And that's not correct to do. The cost to the city $700,000 minimum all mailin ballot.

You can't go to the polls and vote because there will be no polls and you'll have a lower turnout less a lesser result of the election if you do all mailin ballot. That's just historically what happens and it's it's uh factual. It's not particularly for this election. It's just any mailin ballot election has a lower result. people fill out the ballot and they forget to mail it in. It It just happens.

Um I will not vote for this because I believe statutoily we are obligated to hold this ballot question to our citizens in the November ballot. That's where it's set up to be. That's where it should be. That's where citizens should go and vote for it. You'll have a higher turnout because it's a November election. You'll have many issues on that ballot.

this will just be one of them and you'll have a higher return on the issue by the citizens of Scottsdale, which is the point of holding the election in the first place. So, I think uh I will not be voting for a March ballot. This should go on the November ballot as is statutoily required. Thank you, Councilwoman McCallen. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I for one am going to be voting uh to have the special election.

I trust that the citizens know how to mail their ballot in and that they will vote the way they wish to and that's not up to us who votes when they vote. I trust the citizens of Scottsdale to make their own choice. They signed the referendum. They should be allowed to vote and the sooner we put it on the ballot, the better. Councilman Graham. Mayor, thank you. Um I during my comments, I forgot to make an alternate motion.

Um and so I I'll probably just motion to number three, take no action because I think I think that's probably I don't city manager, is there anything to to investigate and report? I don't see that as an appropriate um Yeah. So, so I'll I'll I'll do I'll I'll motion to for number three to take no action. Thank you, mayor. I'll second that. So, I I'm going to say a few words.

So, I think it would be helpful to have the city manager and the city attorney uh return a report to us to correct all the misstatements that we just heard from Councilman Graham. um namely uh that statutoily statutoily we're required to do it in November 2026. He said something along those lines, but uh that's absolutely false. We could have scheduled it already two times previously and uh that's by default. if we take no action, which there's been a complete uh resistance to taking any action.

You're seeing it here again play out tonight. Um and the other uh interesting comment was that they were voters were led to believe uh that couldn't be any more vague uh that that would take place in November of 2026. Well, I'll bet if you we would have invited them out to the polls uh over the two times we already had the opportunity to do so or in March where the city advertises the election, they'd come out and vote.

And I really honestly to Councilwoman Mckllen's point, I I take exception with how much um the comments have discredited the uh the will of our voters by saying they can't mail they won't mail it in. They won't know. They were led to believe it's going to be two years from the date they signed the petition. I I just am not buying that. Um, interestingly, as I was parking my car here at city hall, I was listening to the Joe Chris and Joe show on KTA KT, the only station I listen to, right?

Very exciting life I leave lead. And they were talking about how our elected officials, they really don't want to hear from us. They really don't want to hear from the residents. They don't want to hear from the voters unless it's time for their reelection and they're raising money and they're looking for votes. Well, it just so happens that uh there are is a reelection campaign coming up uh for three members, no two members of our city council.

And you know, I don't know how this plays out, but uh the head of TAS is rumored to be running uh for reelect or for election to an available seat. So, I uh you know, I question the uh genuine nature of um stating that our voters will not turn out for this significant issue if we move up the election. And that's all I have to say. Councilman, the November 20 the November 2nd, 2021 special election voter turnout rate for the general plan was 29.75%. Thanks for that update, Councilwoman Whitehead.

I I just wanted to add one more thing. This does not preclude continued negotiations. Uh my colleague likes to talk about 1900 apartments. That's been off the table for a long time. So we're elected to solve problems. We have an opportunity to solve problems. So why in the world would we sue the state of Arizona when all they're going to do the legislature, they'll just rewrite the law? That's there's no winning other than losing millions of dollars. So we're all up here to solve a problem.

If Mr. Graham doesn't like 1900 pro apartments and then let's get to work. Let's let's bring that number down. And so I do want to stress that it's it's on all of us to get that done. And to Mr. to Councilman, soon to be Vice Mayorwasman's point, Vice Mayor, okay, Vice Mayor Quasman's point um that yes, the lower turnout is true in these um off uh uh off-year elections, but listen, all the bond projects that we're enjoying, that was an off-year election, too.

So, it's, you know, democracy isn't a perfect uh art, but we get things done. So, thank you for the added time. Councilman Graham. Um, I I know the city attorney wants to talk, and my point is going to be very brief. Um, we're obviously off topic. We need to wrap this conversation up. Um, so there's a motion on the table.

There's an alternate motion on the table that we'll start with a mo with a vote on and um you know it's um a couple comments were made council member Whitehead about you know what this they'll just go ahead the legislature will just go ahead and rewrite it. They're not going to do that if somebody sues them and they get called out and it's and it's proven unconstitutional. Um a few other inddecorous comments were made. um about political speculation that I regret to hear my colleagues say.

So, I'll leave it at that and I I I really hope we can begin voting now. Uh Luis, city attorney, mayor and members of the council, it sounds like your discussion has concluded, but I did want to caution you all that you got quite off topic. So, um there's limited things you can do on an item like that. And just to remind you all, okay, we're going to vote on the alternate motion before we misbehave anymore. Thank you for that.

Uh voting on the alternate motion, which reminding me is to do nothing. Uh my colleagues, do nothing. I'm going to vote no on do nothing. All right, doing nothing passes. So, thank you very much. Uh, and that concludes that agenda item. And moving right along, we have a work study session. Let's see here.

Next, we have the work study session, which uh as always provides a less formal setting for mayor and council to discuss specific topics with each other and city staff and provide staff an opportunity to receive direction from the council uh to provide an opportunity for public input yet continue to maximize the amount of time available for the council to have focused discussions. spoken comment is accepted on tonight's work study, although I don't have any. So, we'll move right along.

Uh, presenting tonight uh on the topic is Scott Selin. Um, and that is the financial and capital improvement plan update on the preliminary 2025 fiscal year results. Uh, Scott and Ellison Tim will be presenting. Hi, Scott. Thank you. Welcome. Good evening, Madame Mayor, members of the city council. Very happy to be here tonight to provide a preliminary financial update for the fiscal year 2425, which just ended on June 30. Uh, quick introduction.

The figures that you're going to look at today reflect the totals as of the third close of fiscal year 2025. What you're looking at right now is the timeline for the year-end financial report. We're currently at the preliminary results step in the timeline. I'll just briefly cover the remaining steps here. From September to November, u we anticipate uh the year-end audit.

The plan is to go to the audit committee in December of 2025 and to the city council for the final year-end report in January. This slide shows the year-end closing process. Right now, the treasur's office is wrapping up the year-end closing entries. We will be proceeding through all the other steps listed on this slide during the upcoming weeks and months. This slide has some highlevel big picture general fund takeaways. We'll take a look at some specific numbers in the upcoming slides.

For revenues, we saw moderate growth across uh most of our sales tax categories and a significant decline in the rental category. I will add that this decline was expected as a result of the statewide elimination of the residential rental taxation which became effective on January 1st of this year. State shared income tax showed a significant reduction, but again I would add an expected reduction uh from last year.

due to the implementation of the flat tax, a decline in estimated tax payments, and loss of large capital gains tax revenue that was realized in fiscal year 23-24. Property tax revenues declined due to the impact of the Quasmire lawsuit, which I believe uh you're all familiar with. And then looking at the expenditure side, overall the expenditures were 2% below budget. This slide shows our sales tax revenue broken out by category in a bit more detail.

Before I start talking about the numbers, I want to orient you to the table that's on here because you'll see several others like it throughout the presentation. We have our categories uh sales tax categories on the left. The first column is the fiscal year 23 24 actuals. The next column is the 25 actuals, the fiscal year that just ended. The third column is the percentage change year-over-year. The next column, the fourth column is the fiscal year 2425 budgeted amount for those categories.

Uh the fifth column, the budget variance column compares the actuals to the budget where a positive number indicates a positive budget variance and conversely a negative number indicates a negative budget variance. And then the last column is the budget variance percentage. And of course we have the totals at the bottom. This table format is the same that you'll see in some upcoming slides. So the table on this slide breaks down the sales tax revenues into the various categories that we track.

Most of our categories showed some growth. The major exception was the rental category as a result of the statewide elimination of residential rental. This was expected and incorporated into our budget. I just call your attention to the uh rental category in the budget variance column which shows that we had a positive budget variance of $800,000 roughly indicating that this decline was expected. We do have some findings listed in the bullets here.

Uh there were some large one-time payments in automotive, construction, and retail categories. Construction and retail showed some solid base growth. And then year-over-year, our sales tax revenue, I'd call your attention to the total line at the bottom, showed a 2% increase. This slide summarizes the state shared revenues and primary property tax. State shared income tax showed a significant year-over-year decline as a result of the flat tax implementation and loss of capital gains revenue.

This again was expected and budgeted budgeted for in the budget variance column for state shared income tax. We show a positive variance of about $200,000. We did see slight budget gains in both the state shared sales tax and the state shared vehicle tax categories. For vehicle tax, highway user revenues came in um it performed better than we had originally anticipated. Overall, state shared revenues showed a budget gain of $1.5 million and 1%.

Moving down to primary property tax, uh we showed both a year-over-year and a budget variance that was a negative due to the Quasmire decision that I believe you're all familiar with. This resulted in a negative budget variance of about $6 million. This slide shows the charges for service categories. Just looking at the total at the bottom, we showed a total positive budget variance of $4.3 million in fiscal year 2025.

We have some sub bullets that provide some noteworthy context for this variance. Uh the fire insurance premium tax came in higher than budgeted. We had some facility rental fees for Westworld that came in higher than budgeted due to some timing uh issues with when we received the payments. And then finally, we did recover some revenue from vendors for damage to the Westworld facility. This slide shows an overall summary of the general fund revenue in fiscal year 2425.

Uh calling your attention to the total row at the bottom here, we collected $454.5 million, which is a slight decline compared to last year. Compared to what we had budgeted, however, we show a 3% gain. And the only significant budget loss on the categories on this slide was in the property tax category, which we discussed previously. Moving over to the expenditure side, this slide examines our FY2425 expenditures. We have the preliminary total expenditures shown by category in this table.

We'll go to the subtotal line which shows the expenditures by category excluding transfers out which I will get to in a moment. These are uh on the subtotal line we spent a total of 377.9 million against a budget of 385.2 which is a positive variance of 2%.

So going down to the transfers outline, the reason that it is so under budget showing such a large p positive variance is because certain transfers to the capital improvement plan had not yet happened as of the third close and these transfers will occur before the final close. So you'll see that budget variance resolve itself. This slide takes the general fund division expenditures uh takes the expenditures and splits them up by division. We'll just go to the total line here.

I'll emphasize that we show an overall positive budget variance again of about 7.3 million which is about 2%. I believe that brings me to the end. I'd be happy to entertain any questions that you all might have. Councilman Graham. Thank you, Mayor Scott. Good presentation. Um, can you go back to the slide showing that our revenues are 8%, sales tax collections are 8%. So the big biggest driver of that looking at this would be retail sales collections followed by automotive.

You know, it's I guess I I kind of wanted to maybe just get a little bit on a soap box for a second because, you know, I know we never wanna I know we never want to overestimate revenues, but 8%'s kind of a big underestimation, especially because our I know our expenses are not as high as they should have been.

um you know when you don't when you have an 8% revenue under or I guess windfall you can't you can't budget you know that you know you you can't there's inadequate budget planning because if you have those resources in mind if you were closer to like a two or 3% then you know you have those resources and you can start planning your investments you can start uh applying for grants because you think you have more revenue um and then you know this kind has happened for several years is just what ends up happening is when you underestimate revenue, you get into a reactive financial management scenario at the end of the year.

And so what do you do with it? Because you have all this extra money. Um it can affect grants and other investments. It can delay projects. It can um we can we can miss out on critical projects because we didn't think we were going to have the revenue. Um, so I just 8% I mean I know these numbers I'd like, you know, I know it's an estimate. I know it's a projection, but and I'm really kind of talking to Sonia.

Um, not you Scott, but it's the other thing I was going to ask is can you go to the uh shared revenue slide? Uh, we I mean I thought that we kind of knew these numbers two years in advance and I think that they're all positive. So what I'm thinking is that it was more than what they told us. Is that correct, Mayor Council? Council member Graham, we only know the income tax two years in advance. The state shared sales tax and vehicle license tax are collected and remitted um real time basically.

Oh, same year. So it's only the income tax that we know ahead of time. So that's why we have a zero% variance. Um and then if you go to enter Thank you, Sonia. If you go to enterprise Scott, I mean, you know, it's 25% it's it's you know, I'm happy about it. Like I don't get me don't don't hear me the wrong way. Like I don't want to see like we bud, you know, nobody wants to see the worst thing we could do is budget revenues and it's way less. I get that.

That's the worst thing especially especially from a budget you know director. Um, but 25% I mean and I know that these aren't huge numbers, but it's like you can really plan, you know, as far as grants, as far as your cap, your capital expenditures, your investments, your you can really if you just So, I'm I'm just trying what I'm trying to do is just raise awareness that like it's not all, you know, rainbows and butterflies like there's a cost when you underestimate your revenues.

Um, and so and I know it's an I know it's an art as much of a science. And so I'll let you I'll give you the last word, Sonia, and then I'll be done with my comments. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Council Council Member Graham. I appreciate those comments and we will definitely look at our forecasting process and do a better job with um projecting our revenues.

However, that said, I also want to point uh point out one fact is if you go to the uh slide that shows our total revenues in the general fund. Despite the fact that our uh sales tax is higher by 8%, this slide shows local taxes which includes other taxes like franchise fees and such. And that's why that number is 7%. And despite the fact that our charges and services are 25% over budget, we do have a negative 16% in our property tax category.

So in total for the general fund, we're really only 3% over budget um in terms of total revenues. So I hear you. I understand. And we will definitely take a look at how we project revenues and do a better job and make sure we uh try to come closer. But, uh, you know, for last year, we're we're kind of glad we over, um, uh, came in over budget in those categories because it cushioned and offset the big negative in the property tax. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman McCallen.

Thank you, Mayor Scott. I do not know what slide it is, but it's the one where you're talking about it's off so much because of the funds were reimbursed after the third quarter. It's the 40% That was the transfer. That was a transfer. Yeah. That's the timing. So, was this the slide you're speaking of? Um the Oh, the transfers thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This one? Yes. Yes. That's it. So, I just want to clarify that you said that once it comes through in the finals that it'll be closer to 2%.

Madame Mayor, Councilwoman McAllen, that's correct. Okay. Just wanted to clarify that. Thank you. Thank you. I don't see any other speakers. Thank you, Scott. Thank you, Sonia. Appreciate it. And I believe we are Oh, Allison. [Music] Um, good evening, Mayor, members of council. Um, I have the CIP update for you, and it's a video highlighting a few of our current and recently completed capital projects.

Welcome to Investing in Our Scottsdale quarterly recap highlighting projects from Scottsdale's capital improvement program. Water campus expansion. Scottsdale Water is building a new 19,000 square ft singlestory water quality laboratory building at the water campus adjacent to the existing administration building. The current laboratory was built in 1997 and the new facility will help ensure Scottsdale always has access to the cleanest, safest water possible.

Improvements in water quality testing require new tests and equipment, more testing staff, and additional reporting, which the new lab will facilitate. To support the new laboratory building, the existing visitor parking lot will be enhanced to include additional spaces and a second entrance off Walifi Drive. Construction is underway and the 23.6 million project is scheduled to be complete in the fall of 2026. Puma Road redevelopment and expansion.

Puma Road is a vital connector for nearly 12,000 daily drivers linking neighborhoods, businesses, and regional freeways across Scottsdale. A powerful partnership between the Salt River Puma Maricopa Indian Community, the Maricopa County Flood Control District, and the city of Scottsdale is paving the way for muchneeded upgrades to a critical stretch of Puma Road from McDall Road north to Vinda.

Construction began in October of 2024 on the $74.2 2 million project that will expand roadway capacity to ease congestion and improve daily commutes, enhance pedestrian and bicycle access, and modernize vital flood control infrastructure. The project is made possible by a $49.8 million grant awarded to SRPMIC in 2019 through the nationally significant federal lands and tribal projects program.

The city of Scottsdale is also contributing to this effort as one of many funding partners on the project. With construction continuing through the winter of 2026, the project promises long-term benefits for all who live, work, and travel in the area. Oldtown Pavement Improvement Project. Scottsdale is making a major investment to improve the quality and condition of streets, alleyways, and parking lots in Oldtown.

When complete, business owners, residents, and visitors will enjoy a smoother and safer driving experience. and enhanced curb appeal. The work covers nearly 374,000 square yards of asphalt and includes a range of surface treatments like fog ceiling, micro sealing, and millan overlay improvements. Accessibility is also a top priority. New ADA ramps are being installed and many existing ramps are being upgraded to meet today's standards.

This $7 million project kicked off in June of 2025 and will continue through October with work carefully phased to reduce the impact on the community to minimize disruptions to Oldtown businesses. Much of the work is being done overnight. McCormick Stillman Splash Pad and Roundhouse. Just in time for its 50th birthday, new amenities were unveiled at McCormick Stillman Railroad Park this summer. Totaling 11.8 million.

The improvements were designed to add features to the park to boost attendance during the summer months. The Roundhouse, a massive 10,000q ft indoor play space, features a one-of-a-kind locomotive shaped climbing structure, perfect for summer fun and airond conditioned relief. A 5,000 square ft splash pad provides an opportunity for kids to cool off in an interactive water zone built for adventure.

A redesigned entry plaza provides shaded seating, new pathways, vibrant landscaping, and public art. The improvements will help ensure the railroad parks next 50 years are even brighter. Fire Station 612. Scottsdale's newest fire station is officially open and serving the community. Fire Station 612 began operations in September on the northeast corner of Hayden Road and Mayo Boulevard.

With an anticipated workload of over 2,000 incidents each year, Station 612 plays a vital role in improving emergency response times for this growing area. The 12,000qt station is staffed by a four-person engine company and a twoperson battalion chief unit. It also houses a wildland interface fire attack vehicle and a utility support vehicle ready for a range of emergencies.

The station includes four apparatus space, sleeping quarters for 12, a full kitchen, dining area, and day room, personal protective equipment storage, an OSHA compliant decontamination area, a physical fitness area, locker rooms, and bathrooms, a backup generator and laundry facilities, as well as office, meeting space, and public art.

The new building is being constructed to include lead standards and green building code measures where practical and is intended to be a high performance facility. The $13.7 million project was funded by voters in the 2019 bond election and ensures our first responders have the resources and support they need to respond effectively to keep our community safe. And that concludes the latest highlights of capital projects in our community. Thanks for watching. Thank you. Do you have any questions?

Uh, Vice Mayor Dasquez. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um, thank you, Allison. I love these videos. Um, I think in the past we have asked for budget to actuals. Where is that? Can you pull up the slide for the budget to actuals, please? You were prepared. Thank you. I think I can just put it on the you switch to the Can you see that a little bigger? Thank you. Can you can you talk us through it? Oh, sure. Okay.

So the first project that we highlighted was the water campus administrative building expansion, the regulatory lab. Um the total project budget is 23.6 million and the funds spent today are 22.1 million with the remaining budget of 21.5 million and that was funded by water rates. Um the next project is the Oldtown Pavement Improvements and our total budget for the Oldtown area is uh 7 million and so far work has been proceeding but we actually haven't paid any invoices.

They're starting to come in and we're starting to make payments on those. Um so again remaining budget right now is 7 million and that's funded by the transportation sales tax 2%. Um we have the McCormick still roundhouse project and that was um 11.8 8 million total budget funds spent to date are 9.5 with the remaining 2.3 um funded by general fund tourism and development funds and special revenue fund.

Um the splash pad portion was also bond 2019 and um again that project is complete but we're still doing final closeout with the contractor and you know the invoices will come in to finalize that project. And then project 28 um bond project 2019 project 28 build a new fire station near Hayden Road in Loop 101. Total project budget was 13.7 million. Funds spent today are 11.5 with a remaining of 2.2.

Again still in project close out the fire um uh team just moved in on the 22nd, but we're still finalizing the contracts there. And again, that was bond 2019 um general fund and then bond 2019 interest proceeds as well. Thank you very much. Okay. You're welcome. Thank you, Allison. I don't have any more speakers and appreciate it. Thank you. All right. That concludes our business for this evening. Uh so I will move to adjourn. Second. All right. All in favor? Stand up.