By Tom Scanlon | Scottsdale Progress
A development criticized by some as a “sweetheart deal” three years ago is apparently stalled, leaving neighbors if not Tased and perplexed, at least dazed and confused.
Hundreds of Stonebrook residents who protested the expansion of Axon – founded here by a native son in 1993 and famous for its Taser “stun guns” – are wary of plans for a giant corporate building fashioned after “Star Wars.”
The plan also calls for not one but two roundabouts as part of the neighborhood street redo and a futuristic-but-troubling fire station.
The extraordinary expansion, which Axon says will cost $85 million, has not started and Axon has not announced when it will.
A development agreement and architectural construction plans were approved by the city in 2020.
“Civil improvement – infrastructure – plans have not been approved yet,” city planner Greg Bloemberg said. “I have not heard from (Axon) in quite a while.”
Even so, those living in a neighborhood bordered by East Princess Drive, Hayden Road and East Mayo Boulevard are jittery.