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Landmark day • Tuesday, April 7, 2020

April 7, 2020: The Council Repeals Southbridge Two

Four council members undo their own vote so Old Town's height fight never reaches the ballot.

Illustrated plaque for April 7, 2020 in Scottsdale history APRIL 7 2020 THE NEW WEST

What happened

In a virtual meeting on April 7, 2020, the Scottsdale City Council repealed the rezoning for Southbridge Two, Carter Unger's redevelopment of about 10 acres along the Arizona Canal with buildings up to 150 feet, which it had approved on December 4, 2019. The vote was 4 to 3, the same split as the approval: Mayor Jim Lane and Councilmembers Suzanne Klapp, Virginia Korte and Linda Milhaven for repeal; Vice Mayor Kathy Littlefield and Councilmembers Guy Phillips and Solange Whitehead against. The package, moved by Korte and seconded by Milhaven, was Ordinance 4449 and Resolutions 11773 to 11776, which also cancelled the development agreement and the sale of the city's Rose Garden lot. Unger had asked for repeal after a citizens' committee qualified a referendum and a judge rejected his challenge to it.

Why it matters

Repeal ended the referendum, since there was nothing left to vote on, and made building height in Old Town a central issue of the 2020 city election.

The approval and the petition

On December 4, 2019 the council approved Southbridge Two, 4 to 3: offices, shops, condominiums and a hotel on about 10 acres west of Scottsdale Road along the canal, with buildings up to 150 feet. A committee formed by two Old Town property owners, the Committee for the Preservation of Old Town Scottsdale, filed for a referendum the next day and turned in about 17,000 signatures by January 3; 11,930 valid ones were needed. The clerk certified the petition on January 31, 2020, and a Superior Court judge rejected the developer’s challenge.

The repeal

Facing a November vote, Carter Unger asked the council to repeal the rezoning, saying he had lost several properties in escrow. On April 7, 2020, meeting by telephone in the first weeks of the pandemic, the same four members who had approved the project voted to repeal it. Councilwoman Virginia Korte moved and Councilwoman Linda Milhaven seconded Ordinance 4449 and Resolutions 11773 to 11776, which undid the rezoning and cancelled the development agreement and the sale of the Rose Garden lot. City Attorney Sherry Scott cited a 1982 Attorney General opinion that once the subject of a referendum is repealed, “any vote on the measure would be without legal effect.” The referendum ended.

The city’s transcript records the arguments. “I believe this is an actual win for the people who opposed this project,” said Councilwoman Suzanne Klapp. “I think this is a very, very sad day for Scottsdale,” said Milhaven. Vice Mayor Kathy Littlefield called the repeal “very much illegal” under the Arizona constitution. “The idea that the same legislative body can undermine the referendum process is a trampling of voter rights,” said Councilman Guy Phillips. Councilwoman Solange Whitehead: “I’m not going to be the one to deny a public vote.”

The Southbridge Two referendum page tells the whole story, and the 2010s politics chapter the decade behind it.