By Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | AZ Mirror
A state law barring Scottsdale residents from voting to stop law enforcement technology company Axon’s planned massive headquarters and housing project doesn’t violate the state constitution’s ban on “special legislation,” a Maricopa County Superior Court judge ruled.
The law says that any city with between 200,000 and 500,000 residents — Scottsdale had 241,000 residents in the 2020 census — must “allow hotel use and multifamily residential housing” for land zoned like the Axon parcel “without requiring any type of application that will require a public hearing” if certain criteria is met.
Axon lobbied state lawmakers to strip away the constitutional right of Scottsdale voters to challenge the police weapons manufacturer’s headquarters project near Hayden Road and the Loop 101. The effort to change the law was in direct response to a referendum campaign that successfully put the initial development plan on the ballot.
In addition to the firm’s international headquarters, the project is set to include a luxury hotel and apartments, many of which — but not all — will be reserved for the company’s employees.
The group behind the effort to stop Axon, Taxpayers Against Awful Apartment Zoning Exemptions, claims that the law violates the state constitution.
