Taxpayers Against Awful Apartment Zoning Exemptions, also known as TAAAZE, filed a legal complaint with the Maricopa County Superior Court against the State of Arizona, as well as the City Manager and Planning Director of Scottsdale.
The 20-page lawsuit alleges the state gave Axon special treatment and encroached on voters’ rights. This stems from a law that nullified a ballot petition drive against the planned Axon Corporate Campus. The complaint goes on to argue the law is unconstitutional as it was, allegedly, created to benefit a single company.
The legislation, which was signed into law by Gov. Katie Hobbs in April, allows the developers to construct apartment and hotel buildings on land zoned light industrial if it is connected to a company’s international headquarters. The legislation retroactively made the anti-development referendum invalid.
Alexis Danneman of Perkins Cole, the law firm representing TAAAZE, recently said in a press release that the lawsuit aims at preventing special laws that benefit specific companies or groups. David Leibowitz responded to the lawsuit, saying it is a “tactic in a well-worn playbook to stall progress.”
He went on to say the lawsuit is “fueled by dark money” and is against the interests of Scottsdale residents. He argued the hefty opposition has risked 5,500 new high-paying jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in public revenue.
Scottsdale City Council had been considering filing its own lawsuit prior to TAAAZE stepping in and filing its own. TAAAZE argued that cities such as Scottsdale would be forced to allow developments like this, while other cities like Mesa and Phoenix would not be required to approve such developments.
The law stipulates that it only applies to cities with populations between 200,000 and 300,000. This includes Chandler, Gilbert, Peoria, Glendale and Scottsdale.
Bob Littlefield of TAAAZE has staunchly opposed the Axon development and the quantity of multifamily units proposed alongside it. The former City Councilmember has a lengthy history of opposing any development with a multifamily component. (Source)