By J. Graber | YourValley
The Goldwater Institute is threatening litigation against the city of Scottsdale if it follows through with certain amendments proposed to zoning regulations for the Old Town area, citing the changes would bring upon a negative impact on property owners.
In August 2021, the Scottsdale City Council initiated both a non-major general plan amendment to the Old Town Scottsdale Area Plan and a text amendment to the city’s zoning ordinance for the downtown zoning districts.
The Goldwater Institute, a conservative think tank, sent a letter to Mayor David Ortega in February warning that enforcement of certain changes that would down zone properties could open the city open up to legal attacks by the property owners.
“The proposed changes currently under consideration would restrict the rights of property owners far beyond existing zoning requirements,” the letter states. “In particular, by reducing maximum building height and building heights and floor area ratios (FAR), increasing setback requirements, causing parcels to be converted from Type 2 to Type 1 (thereby further reducing maximum heights and FAR), creating a new ‘sensitive edge buffer,’ and imposing a new ‘publicly accessible open space’ requirement, these proposed changes would diminish property values for hundreds of property owners in Scottsdale. If adopted, these amendments may result in a large number of Proposition 207 claims against the city.”
