By Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | AZ Mirror
The City of Scottsdale voted Monday on a new deal with police technology company Axon that effectively cancels a referendum vote on the company’s proposed headquarters, even as residents are heading to court over the project and a state law that protects it.
Axon lobbied state lawmakers earlier this year to strip away the right of Scottsdale voters to challenge the police weapons manufacturer’s headquarters project near Hayden Road and the Loop 101. That law followed a failed attempt by the firm to bar voters in every city and town in Arizona from being able to challenge zoning and development decisions.
In addition to the firm’s international headquarters, the project is set to include a luxury hotel and roughly 1,900 apartments, many of which — but not all — will be reserved for the company’s employees. Gov. Katie Hobbs signed Senate Bill 1543 into law in April, blocking a vote on the project.
On Monday evening, the Scottsdale City Council approved a memorandum of understanding between the city and Axon to decrease the number of apartments, along with other concessions from the firm. The MOU states that Axon will build 600 apartments and 600 condos, cutting the number of residences that have been at the heart of arguments against the project by about a third.
