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Scottsdale is blessed with a dramatic setting in the Sonoran Desert. The community's enviable climate and its outdoor and western oriented lifestyle made Scottsdale a prime destination for resort activity and related tourism and visitor trade during the early part of this century. In the more recent past, Scottsdale became a desirable bedroom community in the rapidly growing Phoenix Metropolitan area. Today, Scottsdale is a city in its own right with a strong and diversified economy.
Tourism continues to be a critically important element of the community's economy. There is a strong parallel between the vision its citizens possess for the community and the types of amenities that support the local tourism industry. Indicative of this is the tradition in Scottsdale for insisting on high quality development and on the protection of the natural Sonoran Desert environment. There is a strong preservation ethic in the community. top
Scottsdale leaders learned early in the physical development of the City that strict regulatory approaches were not always the best way to achieve consensus community objectives. An ordinance prohibiting development on hillsides by requiring density transfer was struck down by the courts. The community turned to the use of incentives, innovative site planning, design flexibility and, most of all, partnerships to achieve desired physical development goals.
An effective partnership has been forged to establish a Preserve in and around the McDowell Mountains. These mountains are the city's most striking physical feature, rising to over 4000 feet and covering an area of 25 square miles. Situated strategically in the central part of the community, they serve as a visual backdrop from all directions. The mountains also possess a unique habitat for desert plants and animals as a result of the Sonoran Desert's two annual rainfall seasons. Scattered throughout the mountains are pre-historic artifacts and petroglyphs left by the Hohokams many centuries ago. More recently the mountains have experienced speculative mining, cattle grazing, and ever increasing passive recreation including hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, and rock-climbing. top
For many years the mountains were remote from developmental activity. Many citizens erroneously believed that the mountains were publicly owned and thus protected from development. During the latest growth boom, development edged closer to the mountains. It became painfully apparent to many that with 75% of the land in the McDowells privately owned, incentives and other creative strategies would not be sufficient to keep all development off of the hillsides and out of the sensitive canyons and desert habitats.
This awareness led a core of dedicated and concerned citizens to form the McDowell Sonoran Land Trust in 1990. The Trust has played a leadership role in advocating mountain and desert preservation, in enlightening citizens about the fragility of the Sonoran Desert and the realities of development potential in the mountains, and in serving as champions to encourage action. The Land Trust in early 1993 called attention to the timeliness of the issue when a passionate plea was made to the City Council to take immediate steps to save the McDowells and the adjacent Sonoran Desert. The Council heeded the warning and accepted a leadership role in the community's preservation effort. top
As is the tradition in Scottsdale, the City Council created a broad based task force of community leaders to study the issue and to prepare a plan of action. Although each participant brought a different and unique perspective to the process, all shared a common vision of the importance of the mountains to the community and the need to protect them. Participants were genuinely committed to the process and fully engaged in the dialogue. Through a slow and steady process of consensus building, negotiation, and compromise, a unanimously approved and broadly supported conceptual plan of action was developed within six months for Council review.
The City Council acted decisively. They created the McDowell Sonoran Preserve Commission, and charged it with developing a specific action plan to implement the task force recommendations. The Commission was comprised of individuals that represented a broad range of community interestsCfrom the Land Trust to developer interests. This provided the necessary balance and partnership that has been critical to the success of Scottsdale's preservation effort. From the beginning, the Commission encouraged the active participation of all interests that could potentially be affected by the Commission's actions. Subcommittees were created to enlist the assistance of community leaders and experts in topics of discussion and to provide a formal vehicle for land owners, special interest groups, and others to participate in the formulation of recommendations. For example, Arizona Game and Fish and the State Land Department have been active participants in numerous subcommittee processes. top
Again, as was the case with the task force, healthy debate, negotiation and compromise combined with detailed research and community outreach allowed the Commission to develop a specific plan of action with broad public support within a short span of time. This action plan included a precise geographic boundary of 25.7 square miles desired for preservation, known as the Recommended Study Boundary (RSB), and identification of the most practical potential funding source for the purchase of land, a two tenths of one percent increase in the sales tax (a funding approach that would need to go to the voters for approval).
The strategic role of partnerships in the effort to preserve the McDowell Mountains can clearly be seen in the dialogue, debate and constructive compromise that occurred among the various individuals and groups interested in the issue. For example, an area of very developable land had been designated as a high priority area for protection by the preservation minded participants but was eliminated from the Recommended Study Boundary established by the Commission. The more development and financially focused participants successfully argued that the high value of this land could raise the total cost of land acquisition to a point that public support for preservation might be questioned. top
The Commission recognized that a Preserve located within a heavily populated area would require sufficient access for visitors and potential users of the Preserve. A large area of desert along a major street was designated the Gateway to the Preserve, an area for all to come and enjoy the desert and gain access to the mountains. This appealed to residents of the mature neighborhoods who had cautioned that the proposed tax must be viewed as beneficial to the entire community and not simply a program to assist the residents that live in the newer and generally more affluent parts of the community near the mountains. Additionally, several other access areas have been planned to accommodate anticipated demand based on lessons learned from the preservation efforts of other communities. Phoenix and Boulder, CO have been excellent sources of information given each community's open space experience.
The importance of an inclusive, community process can also be exemplified by the fact that in a time when citizens are clamoring for tax reduction, the sales tax increase ballot measure was passed by Scottsdale voters in a single issue election by a two to one margin. The entire community came together to promote the ballot measure with voters. The tax increase was endorsed by the Chamber of Commerce, civic groups and community associations. In a subsequent election, a year later, Scottsdale voters approved the use of bonds from the same revenue source to accelerate the acquisition of land for the Preserve. This proposition passed by a three-to-one margin. top
The open process the City has employed is continuing during the implementation of the preservation program. Land acquisition by the City within the Recommended Study Boundary is being conducted through a consensual approach to the maximum extent possible. The City conducts appraisals and negotiates for the purchase of land in the open market. The Preserve Commission provides citizen oversight to this effort and the Land Trust serves as the community conscience to ensure that all participants live up to the terms of the partnerships that have evolved.
A small portion of the Recommended Study boundary lies within the adjoining Town of Fountain Hills. At the request of their citizens, a task force was formed and ultimately the Town Council created a commission to seek ways to preserve viewsheds and other land within the Town. Throughout their process, a member of Scottsdale's Commission, City staff and others assisted the Fountain Hills groups in developing their concept of a preserve for their side of the mountains. top
In the early summer of 1995, a lightning-caused fire burned 23,000 acres of desert and mountains, including about 25% of the Recommended Study Boundary and 70% of the adjoining Maricopa County Regional Park. While lightening and fire are natural events in the arid southwest, the severity of the fire was magnified by the presence of a healthy stand of non-native grasses, primarily red brome. The Land Trust and the City are considering alternative strategies to reduce fire potential. The use of limited sheep grazing to reduce the fuel load and regeneration of red brome has been considered. The City has tapped the expertise of the Game and Fish Department and from the staff of Arizona State University's College of Architecture and Environmental Design to assess the suitability of sheep grazing. A local rancher whose family has raised sheep in the area for three generations has been involved in this assessment. The City is looking at identifying potential test sites where alternative fire reduction strategies can be evaluated. top
As land is added to the Preserve, the City's management responsibilities will expand. The City wants to ensure that it is a good steward of the land and that it sets an example for others to follow. Most of all the City wants to provide for the long term sustainability of the fragile desert environment that the mountains represent. The City has embarked on development of a master plan for the Preserve. Early in the process the City was awarded a Heritage Grant to study habitat characteristics of the Preserve. This information developed under the auspices of the Game and Fish Department will be very important as the City proceeds with the development of specific use and management recommendations.
The City is also using advanced technology through a partnership with NASA to establish a long term monitoring system to assess the impact over time of growth in the Metro area on the natural environment. Three-D visualizations, modeling and decision support systems are being used to assist in planning for the Preserve. top
In summary, even as the benefits of open space to the long term health and vitality of the community are becoming more widely appreciated and known, proponents are finding it increasingly necessary to develop creative implementation strategies to garner active public support and participation in establishing open space amenities. The Scottsdale experience illustrates clearly how partnerships are being employed in this community to bring together diverse interests to achieve an important community objective. Scottsdale's success in using this approach is a particularly important lesson for communities seeking to preserve open space given the prospect of continuing tight municipal budgets, limited intergovernmental funding from the State and the Federal governments, and the growing competition for limited private dollars.