The controversial Mercado Courtyard apartment complex planned near the intersection of 92nd Street and Shea Boulevard is dead – again – while its controversial neighbor was abruptly pulled from the agenda.
Scottsdale City Council voted 5-2 to reject the rezoning application and site plan for the 262 unit project on 8.52 acres on Dec. 7, scuttling the project for the second time this year. Councilwoman Linda Milhaven and Vice Mayor Tom Durham cast the only “yes” votes in favor of the complex.
Originally known as 92 Ironwood, the original developer pulled the Mercado from the council’s agenda in February when it didn’t look like it had the votes to make it past council.
Meanwhile, the 94 hundred Shea project, which proposes 219 apartments on 11 acres adjacent to the Mercado Courtyards, was pulled from the agenda. It faces an uphill battle tas it relies on an access point onto the property where the Mercado would have been located.
Council did approve an apartment project near the intersection of N. Scottsdale Road and E. Earl Drive in downtown Scottsdale called Scottsdale 3200 North.
Mercado Courtyard
A standing-room-only crowd of about 100 people showed up to either support or oppose the Mercado Courtyard and 43 members of the public spoke on the project – 15 in support and 28 against.
Opponents cited fears of too much traffic and excessive water use while others voiced general opposition to any more apartment projects in Scottsdale.
“This city was built on hard-working, law-abiding people who saved and invested and moved here like myself and others,” said Mike Crooker. “They worked all their life to come here.
“Now we’re going to water down the area with apartment after apartment after apartment … If we’re going to improve Scottsdale, we want to bring in people from all over who are going to buy and have ownership in this city. They’ll follow the rules and laws and more than that they’ll take care of their area.”
Others, like Jason Phillips, a local paramedic and firefighter, said he was anxious to take advantage of price breaks that Mercado developer Caliber of Scottsdale had proposed for essential workers.
He said he lives in a rented house with several other people and welcomed the idea of being able to get into his own place closer to where he works.
“The next generation coming up – people who want to stay in Scottsdale and stay where we’re from – we’re just asking for affordable housing and good options to live at,” Phillips said.
The project called for a 10% discount on leases for medical staff, teachers and first responders as well as anyone working within a mile of the site.
Application fees would also have been waived for those people and there would have been a 5% cap on rental renewal increases. They would also have been given a 90-day head start to apply once the units were ready.
There would have been no cap on how many essential workers could take advantage of the program.
Also, 10% of the units would have been reserved for seniors.
The project also called for Caliber to install a traffic light at 92nd street and Cochise Drive, 109,700 square feet of open space and a 544-space garage.
Landscaping would have been irrigated with gray water from the site and the project would have complied with the international green building codes.
Caliber also presented a stipulation in a letter earlier in the day that said it could not draw a building permit for the property until it provides the city with 525 acre-feet of water.
But Mayor David Ortega called “a one pager” provided at the last minute “pretty inadequate.”
Maricopa County Supervisor Tom Galvin, who was present as an attorney representing Caliber, described the letter as “an effort in good faith” to address the concerns of people worried about water use.
Councilwoman Betty Janik admonished project opponents for sending threatening correspondence to Council. “I beg all of you to think about what your words do,” she said. “They provoke violence and we don’t need any more of that.”
But she also didn’t support the project, stating, When we move into a neighborhood, we investigate the zoning that surrounds us. It is a promise to the community to stick with that zoning. In this instance, I believe we need to stick with that zoning.”
Councilwoman Solange Whitehead said, “Most of you live in a house that some city council changed the zoning, but the point of changing the zoning is to make sure the value that is given to the developer is returned to the community.
“I strongly believe we’re not there yet. We’ve got to balance community need … with the benefit to the applicant.”
Councilwoman Kathy Littlefield said, “This is obviously not wanted by the Scottsdale citizens.
“I think we all heard pretty loud and clear when we read through all of our emails, only some of which showed up here tonight, and by listening to the citizens tonight,” Littlefield said. “They are against this by a pretty large margin.”
Vice Mayor Tom Durham said by providing housing near the hospital in the area, it would cut down on traffic and air pollution.
He also disputed Littlefield’s claim that the four-story medical office building on the site was allowed to deteriorate by Caliber.
After one person opposed to the project quoted Durham’s campaign promise to rein in developers, Durham explained:
“When I ran for council, we were talking about 15-story buildings. Now we’re talking about three-story buildings or stories that present three stories to the street. That’s what I meant by smart development.”
Councilwoman Linda Milhaven said, “If not this, then what? I think that is a very important question for us to answer.
“If not this then I think there are two options, one is we continue to have a vacant building or vacant lot … or as the vice mayor said, we get a four-story office building,” she continued. “Those are our two choices.”
Chris Loeffler, Caliber CEO, pointed out the company invested $20 million in the site and will ultimately build something there.
Milhaven added that an apartment complex “creates the fewest number of car trips including the allowed office and if it were retail, it would create even more traffic.”
Milhaven moved to continue the hearing but that motion died 4-3 with Ortega, Whitehead, Littlefield and Janik voting against it.
Scottsdale 3200 North
Council then approved the five-story Scottsdale 3200 North, which will abut Old Town on just 2.4 acres.
It required an amendment to the zoning code to increase the density from the 50 dwelling units per acre currently allowed to 55.8 dwelling units.
The project will also have up to 135 apartments, though property owner Dan Smith has agreed to reduce that number to double the commercial space from 4,000 square feet to 8,000.
The higher density will allow the developer to build more and smaller apartments. The project comprises one- and two-bedroom units. A one-bedroom will be 675 square feet and a two-bedroom will be 850 square feet.
While the idea is to offer the apartments at market rate, keeping them smaller and using more modest fixtures in the them will keep rents down.
Parking would be housed in a three-story garage with one level located underground and two levels above ground. There will be screening on the sides and top of the garage, which will include a pool. The walls of the garage will also include a “fin” type decoration to break up the view.
The proposal also includes 28,000 square feet of open space, though none is required by the city.
Trees will surround the property on all four sides. There would be a fire lane to the north. A courtyard and a pedestrian thoroughfare connecting Scottsdale Road and 71st Street would be on the south side of the project.
