Writing the rules down
By 1973 Scottsdale had spent nine years asking its residents, through its STEP committees, what kind of city it should be. It had a general plan, a 60-foot height limit adopted in 1970 and a master-planned community zone adopted in 1971. What it lacked was clear authority in its own charter to make growth pay for itself and to control how buildings looked. On February 6, 1973 the council adopted Ordinance 709 putting seven amendments on a special election ballot. The City Clerk later found no charter review committee behind them and no mention of them in the council minutes beforehand.
What voters approved
On April 10, 1973 all seven passed, by margins the council canvassed on April 16:
| Question | For | Against |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Development fees and dedications | 7,339 | 1,028 |
| 2. Architectural and site-plan review | 7,510 | 833 |
| 3. Specific plans | 7,437 | 892 |
| 4. Removal of nonconforming signs | 7,425 | 795 |
| 5. Investment of city funds | 7,411 | 780 |
| 6. Written contracts and bidding over $5,000 | 6,318 | 1,912 |
| 7. Purchasing rules | 6,147 | 2,160 |
The first question gave the city power “to require all persons, firms, or corporations responsible for new physical development within the City to provide for or furnish, or pay a fee in lieu of providing for or furnishing” a list of public needs: utility easements, water, sewers, “park land and development,” “school sites,” streets, “bike paths and other necessary transportation,” drainage, “flood control” and other facilities. The second required “architectural and site plan review and approval prior to the development, construction, reconstruction, or conversion of any building or structure other than a detached single-family dwelling.” The fourth required “removal of all signs not conforming to the zoning ordinance,” with “the privilege of amortization as determined by ordinance.”
Mayor Bud Tims certified the results on April 19, attested by City Clerk Fern Anderson Nell, and Governor Jack Williams approved the amendments on May 17, 1973.
What came of it
The city went to work on the new powers that fall. A STEP forum on September 25 at the Safari Hotel was called “on the vital questions of how Charter Amendments I and IV can and should be implemented,” and the city’s packet explained, “The primary reason we are now discussing how to amortize nonconforming signs is the city election of April 10, 1973 in which the citizens voted 9 to 1 in favor of amortizing nonconforming signs.”
The powers had mixed fortunes in court. The home builders challenged the city’s water development fee, and in 1977 the Court of Appeals upheld it. The Arizona Sign Association challenged the design review criteria, and the same court let them stand. But the sign-removal ordinance the council adopted in 1974 was struck down by the Arizona Supreme Court in 1978, because state law required cities to buy or condemn nonconforming signs (see the sign fight). The same spring of 1973, voters also approved $10 million in bonds for the Indian Bend Wash greenbelt. The 1970s politics chapter tells the rest of the decade.
Gaps in the record
- Whether the greenbelt bonds were on the April 10 ballot, and their canvass.
- Who drafted the amendments, and whether anyone campaigned against them.
- How many voters were registered; about 8,300 voted on each question.