Petitions, public pleas, protests, pledges of political paybacks \u2026 all packed up and punted.<\/p>\n
After another intensely emotional, debate-filled April 14 meeting, the construction of a parking garage in the heart of Old Town Scottsdale appears certain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The last in a long series of meetings featuring anguished calls to kill \u2013 or, at least, delay \u2013 a contentious garage is in the books.<\/p>\n
As she has done for the last 16 months, Mayor Lisa Borowsky again just about begged for a “time out for a parking study.” Despite a Greek chorus echoing her views, a solid Scottsdale City Council majority of 5-2 pushed an Old Town garage closer to reality.<\/p>\n
With only Borowsky and Councilwoman Solange Whitehead opposed, Council approved the first phase of construction to expand a modest “Parking Corral” lot into a four-level garage.<\/p>\n
Cost of the structure at First and Brown,\u00a0 around the corner from City Hall: $18 million.<\/p>\n
That’s up from the $15.2 million estimate given the green light by a different City Council two years ago.<\/p>\n
Councilman Barry Graham and others in the majority this time around pointed to the overwhelming support of a 2019 bond package that included $20 million for “Old Town parking.”<\/p>\n
The bond information was purposely general, to allow options.<\/p>\n
That opened the door for wild debate, years later.<\/p>\n
Since she took office last January,\u00a0 Borowsky has incessantly \u2013 even with failure after failure \u2013 attempted to drum up support for alternative locations and designs.<\/p>\n
Her January 2025 meetings pitching donor David Hovey Jr.’s drawings led to the “Parkingate” scandal, with Graham and fellow council members Jan Dubauskas and Adam Kwasman telling county investigators they thought the mayor was violating laws with the meetings.<\/p>\n
The county declined to investigate.<\/p>\n
One year later, before voting for the garage contract at the April 14 meeting, Kwasman said Borowsky invited him to a private meeting with a developer over a last-ditch effort to bypass the garage.<\/p>\n
Mystery meeting?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThis was a contentious issue for over a year,\u201d Kwasman said.<\/p>\n He then thanked Borowsky for a \u201cyeoman\u2019s work in trying to make sure there were viable alternatives,\u201d including \u201cinviting alternatives to the parking garage \u2026 I don\u2019t want to get into details of the project.\u201d<\/p>\n After Kwasman\u2019s vague mention of a meeting with an unnamed developer hosted by the mayor, Graham asked if Borowsky would provide more information.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Unfortunately, I can’t,” Borowsky responded.<\/p>\n Graham turned to City Manager Greg Caton, who said he was also invited to the mysterious meeting three days before.<\/p>\n “At that meeting, there was a proposal by private individuals to essentially have residential units on top of the (Parking) Corral,” Caton said.<\/p>\n Since the developer owns a neighboring property, they suggested they could use an ordinance to “acquire public land without public process, if you will, or transparency,” Caton said.<\/p>\n “…we had suggested that those individuals bring that forward this evening, in the spirit of transparency for public discussion to see if that was an interest to council to pursue and potentially delay the action this evening,\u201d Caton continued.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s my understanding that was not received in a favorable light, and so therefore we didn’t bring that forward for your consideration.”<\/p>\n The Progress asked Caton, Borowsky and Kwasman for details on the meeting, including the name of the developer.<\/p>\n Holly Peralta, a city spokeswoman, provided a list of those who attended the April 10 meeting. The list included Jose Ramirez, who is the owner of Scottsdale\u2019s OX Urban Properties.<\/p>\n Borowsky told the Progress Ramirez and Anita Lang are \u201cmembers of a group \u2026 working on a beautiful property in Old Town.\u201d They first approached Borowsky \u201ca couple months ago,” the mayor said.<\/p>\n As for the April 10 meeting, Borowsky said, \u201cThey were concerned about the negative impact a parking garage would have on their beautiful project.\u201d<\/p>\n The private meeting days before the scheduled City Council garage vote was \u201cjust ideas \u2013 thinking out loud, trying to trouble shoot,\u201d Borowsky said. She confirmed Ramirez and Lang were interested in buying the First and Brown lot.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the ideas was to keep parking \u2013 public and private \u2013 with luxury retail on the first level and a handful of luxury condominiums on the top floor,” Borowsky said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat they were outlining would have been a huge benefit for the area had anyone given it the time of day,\u201d Borowsky added.<\/p>\n The cost<\/strong><\/p>\n Before dozens lined up to speak for or against \u2013 mostly for, at this meeting \u2013 the garage plan, Alison Tymkiw, a senior city engineer, gave a recap of the long-planned project.<\/p>\n Later, Borowsky pressed Tymkiw for details on the cost; Tymkiw responded that the \u201ccurrent estimate\u201d is around $18 million.<\/p>\n That does not include what City Treasurer Sonia Andrews sketched as around $10 million in interest.<\/p>\n \u201cWow,\u201d Borowsky said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a hard no on this \u2026 I think it\u2019s an egregious overstep at that cost.\u201d<\/p>\n At an informational meeting on the design last month, Old Town businesswoman Crystal Carroll \u2013 who is running for City Council, largely on an anti-garage platform \u2013 fumed that the $90,000 per parking space of the new garage is \u201cthree times the national average.\u201d<\/p>\n Tymkiw was ready for that one at the April 14 meeting, noting a garage in Sedona and a few others around Arizona have similar costs to the Old Town proposal.<\/p>\n Background<\/strong><\/p>\n Two years ago, a so-called \u201cOld Town Parking War\u201d was settled with a compromise. Some City Council members pushed for a bond-backed parking garage at the existing First and Brown \u201cParking Corral\u201d; other members mocked that idea, saying the nearby Entertainment District needed more parking spaces.<\/p>\n The solution: all of the above.\u00a0<\/p>\n On July 1, 2024, Council unanimously directed city staff to move ahead on both garages, one within shouting district of City Hall across from the Mission Restaurant, the other at Sixth Avenue and Stetson Drive in the bar-hopping area.<\/p>\n Three speakers supported turning the Parking Corral into a garage. There was no opposition.<\/p>\n According to Graham at the July 1, 2024, meeting, \u201cWe do need at least two additional levels of parking on the corral. We have skillful, experienced people with architecture and design expertise that will make it look western, high quality, and inviting.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe are dragging our feet and residents are wondering if we are going to keep our word.\u201d<\/p>\n Also at the July 2024 meeting, Whitehead said, \u201cI have spoken with a lot of property owners, people who actually do have who are stakeholders and (there) is a need for parking, in both locations.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI’m comfortable with that.\u201d<\/p>\n Regarding the Parking Corral expansion, Whitehead said, \u201cwe have a capable architect \u2026 and I’m sure that we can come up with a beautiful design.\u201d<\/p>\n After a presentation by then-Public Works Director Dan Worth on the two garages at a cost of $15.2 million each, Whitehead made a motion to approve the agenda \u201cOld Town Parking and Parking Garage Update.\u201d<\/p>\n Almost exactly a year later, at the June 24, 2025, City Council meeting, Borowsky made a motion \u201cto schedule a hearing in the future on the location of the parking garage.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Stressing she had been wanting a parking study for years, Whitehead seconded Borowsky\u2019s motion. Councilwoman Maryann McAllen voted with those two, but the idea was blocked by what Whitehead dubbed \u201cthe bloc\u201d: Graham, Kwasman, Dubauskas and Kathy Littlefield.<\/p>\n Another 10 months later, at last week\u2019s meeting, McAllen voted with the majority to fund the first phase of garage construction.<\/p>\n Borowsky has been consistently fighting the garage, with Steve Sutton emerging as an apostle of the cause.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sutton collected hundreds of signatures for several anti-garage petitions and has been running ads decrying a waste of money \u201cbetter spent repairing our streets and other infrastructure necessities.\u201d<\/p>\n Sutton and others decried the first move of the Scottsdale Farmers Market, which has set up shop on Saturdays at the Parking Corral for years.<\/p>\n The city reached an agreement to move the market \u2013 which closes in the summer \u2013 to the City Hall lot this fall.<\/p>\n In the face of criticism from Borowsky, Sutton and others,\u00a0 garage supporter Graham has repeatedly pointed out that voters in 2019 overwhelmingly approved a bond package that included \u201cpublic parking facilities and improvements.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The bond did not provide specifics in item 63, \u201cBuild Parking Structures in Old Town Scottsdale\u201d \u2013 to the tune of $21 million.<\/p>\n That cost may eventually be double that, after the 2024 Council decided to build the Brown Avenue garage as well as a second garage less than 1 mile north.<\/p>\n At last month\u2019s meeting, several expressed alarm that the First and Brown garage project was not put out to bid using the proposal\/RFP model.<\/p>\n According to Tymkiw\u2019s report, \u201cthe design build manager\u00a0 alternative delivery method was chosen to streamline design and construction and to control construction cost through the design process \u2026 Eight firms submitted statements of qualification.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0A panel selected the winner: Chasse Building Team<\/p>\n After awarding Chasse a $1.7 million design contract last year, City Council followed that up with a $3.8 million \u201cphase one construction services (contract) \u2026 for the Brown Avenue Parking Structure Expansion.\u201d<\/p>\n The meeting concluded with Sutton submitting yet another petition, asking leaders to \u201ccreate an agenda item for the next Council meeting that is for the purpose of voting to cancel the plan to build a garage at the Parking Corral.\u201d<\/p>\n A Graham-and-Kwasman backed motion \u201cto do nothing\u201d regarding the petition sailed through, with even Borowsky joining the majority view.<\/p>\n As a vote to approve the contract was just approved, Borowsky said referring the anti-garage petition to the city manager would be pointless.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll add,\u201d Borowsky commented, \u201cunfortunately.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n About that garage \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n On April 14, citizens eagerly shared their views to City Council on the Old Town parking garage.<\/p>\n A sampling:<\/p>\n Patty Badenoch:<\/p>\n \u201cI talked to 48 merchants who said \u2018no\u2019 \u2026 Who on this council even bothered to visit and talk to these merchants? The council majority will show complete lack of integrity when they vote yes on this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n Madeline Scott:<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a historic area, and consequently, building a garage at this location should be a matter of last resort, after all other options are eliminated, and that has not been done.\u201d<\/p>\n Mike Fernandez:<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to try to fix the greatest show on earth, the Scottsdale City Council circus \u2026 in my opinion, you don\u2019t know what\u2019s best for downtown \u2026 it\u2019s not any garage at that location.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Pat Lowman:<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is the real motivation for building this garage? \u2026 The long-range plan is to demolish the shops which everyone loves \u2026 building the garage is simply the first domino to fall.\u201d<\/p>\n Tom Frenkel:<\/p>\n \u201cIt is very interesting and truthfully disturbing to see people that feel as passionately against it as I feel passionately for \u2026 I spent three days last week, personally, out of a very busy life, visiting that entire area \u2026 (asking) \u2018Are you in favor of this or not?\u2019\u00a0 \u2026 overall, there was almost unanimous support.\u201d<\/p>\n Maria Tutleman:<\/p>\n \u201cFor many years the Old Town farmers market has been a landmark of the type of experience visitors come to have in an Old Town. Why now move this important landmark?\u201d<\/p>\n Bob Pejman:<\/p>\n \u201cPolitical pressure is making you now bow to special interest that want us, that want to stop this \u2026 Back in 2019 we told you that with a parking shortage here during events, we want $21 million dollars (for parking) \u2026 Seven years later, you’re going to go back and say, \u2018Well, we weren’t really sure if that was needed back then\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n Sam West:<\/p>\n \u201cThis is one more change that\u2019s going to kill (Old Town) \u2026 You have to stop this. It\u2019s wrong. Is your obligation to the citizens of Scottsdale \u2013 or is your obligation to special interest of some kind?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Petitions, public pleas, protests, pledges of political paybacks \u2026 all packed up and punted. 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