Pro\/con<\/strong><\/p>\nIt can be said that this airport-related project flew under the radar, as the people who packed City Hall 12 days ago came there to fight or defend the Old Town parking plan.<\/p>\n
After the Progress shared details of the airport purchase, some were skeptical \u2013 while others supported the plan as a solid landing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ethan Knowlden, for one, thinks it was a bad deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is another example of our Council being fiscally irresponsible,\u201d Knowlden, who is running for City Council, said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not dispute the importance Scottsdale Airport has to our city\u2019s economy. But the numbers don’t add up.\u201d<\/p>\n
He cited \u201ctypical raw land purchases in the area\u201d at around $1 million per acre, and typical office building purchases of around $200\/sq. ft.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By his figuring, the city is overpaying by $2 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen spending another $1.1 million to demolish the building and reduce the value of the asset it just acquired,\u201d he complained. \u201cAll for 200 parking spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n
He did grudgingly acknowledge a plan to lease the parking spaces, earning an estimated $82,500 per year in revenues.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the lot will pay for itself \u2013 in about 100 years,\u201d Knowlden sarcastically noted.<\/p>\n
Councilman Barry Graham, who is running for reelection, defended the deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI voted to add additional parking spaces \u2013 funded through the Aviation Enterprise Fund, not the General Fund \u2013 to ensure the stability of our airport’s future,\u201d Graham said.<\/p>\n
By comparison, he said, the Axon plan for 1,300 living units nearby de-stabilizes the airport. \u201cThe company’s proposal to build apartments directly in the airport’s flight path was denied by the Airport Advisory Commission because of safety concerns,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n
Raoul Zubia, another City Council candidate, added his thumbs up to the deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI support this purchase,\u201d Zubia said. \u201cIt directly addresses the ongoing parking shortage at the Scottsdale Airpark.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cExpanding available space will reduce congestion, improve access, and support local businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
He called the deal \u201ca smart first step toward developing a long-term parking garage solution to meet future demand.”<\/p>\n
Same for Bob Littlefield, the former councilman running again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe airport needs more parking and this acquisition is being paid for out of airport funds so I am OK with it,\u201d Littlefield commented on the deal approved by his wife, Councilwoman Kathy Littlefield.<\/p>\n
She is terming out this year, creating one of the three council seats up for election.<\/p>\n
Outsider view<\/strong><\/p>\nDavid Smith is not running for City Council. He has been there and done that: After being a city treasurer, he was elected to Scottsdale City Council in 2014 \u2013 losing a reelection bid four years later.<\/p>\n
Though he stepped away from politics, Smith keeps a close eye on city affairs, particularly revolving around the airport. (In 1986, Smith founded the Airpark News, now owned by Times Media Group, which also owns the Progress.)<\/p>\n
Smith\u2019s sarcastic side was in high gear regarding the agenda report on the recent purchase, which states it will \u201csupport operational needs and expand parking capacity for Scottsdale airport and its users.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEven a lay reader would marvel how the office building will support operational needs,\u201d Smith remarked, \u201csince the Airport plans to immediately demolish it.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a more serious tone, he challenged that \u201cthe Council report offers no business case supporting future growth projections; no assessment of current versus future projected parking needs; in short, no justification for additional parking at all . . . much less this particular 1.49 acres with an office building sitting on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith also echoed Knowlden\u2019s cynicism on revenue leasing parking spaces will generate: \u201cthe hoped-for $82,500\/year does not even amount to a 1% return on investment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then there is that appraisal \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cBizarrely,\u201d Smith said, \u201cthe appraiser’s FMV (fair market value) of $7.9 million was based entirely on the value of the existing 21,664 square foot office building \u2026 which the Airport intends to demolish immediately after purchase.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the appraiser had been asked to develop the hypothetical FMV of 1.49 acres of vacant land, improvable to a surface parking lot, he would have come up with a much lower valuation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On April 14, Scottsdale City Council capped more than a year of debate by approving an Old Town…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":756186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5131],"tags":[311016,5229,5643,1587,166900,166898,88592,270106,183858,1589,241098,311018,46683,311017,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-756185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix","tag-9m","tag-america","tag-arizona","tag-az","tag-barry-graham","tag-bob-littlefield","tag-david-smith","tag-ethan-knowlden","tag-kathy-littlefield","tag-phoenix","tag-raoul-zubia","tag-rick-wielebski","tag-scottsdale-city-council","tag-times-media-group","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116475616739664315","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=756185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/756186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=756185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=756185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=756185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}