No To Summit Tower Signs

WHEREAS:

1. The initial phase of The Summit at Scottsdale was developed fifteen years ago. Eleven years ago an agreement with respect to signage was reached between the Center owners and the community and subsequently approved by City Council. It has been respected ever since; and

2. The Center has prospered with a current vacancy rate of but 1.8% in a market area with a 14.3% vacancy rate; and many of the tenants have been there for years; and

3. A 1.8% vacancy rate would typically be viewed as operationally/financially very successful; in fact, when Weingarten purchased the Center roughly a year ago, it was referred to as a “highly coveted asset” and a “trophy”; and

4. The Center’s clientele are local residents who, by the time they have driven by the Center a couple of times, become well aware of it, without any need for 25-foot-high, illuminated signs; and

5. The natural vegetation of the adjacent Desert Foothills Scenic Drive has not changed appreciably over the years and Weingarten’s complaints about “overgrown natural landscaping” would seem to indicate a lack of appreciation for local environmental sensitivities; and

6. The operating, economic, signage and landscape realities at the time Weingarten chose to purchase the property were essentially as they are today; and the property had operated successfully (a trophy, no less!) as such for many years; and

7. It would not appear that Weingarten was under any duress or obligation to acquire the property but, as experienced investors, they are assumed to have done so with ample due diligence and not with any expectation that their success or failure would be contingent up-on their ability to subsequently get two, 25-foot-high, illuminated advertising signs approved; and

8. Our City has extensive rules, regulations, ordinances, plans and principles, ostensibly to protect natural desert environments exactly like the area in question and which we look to our elected and appointed officials and City staff to enforce and protect; and

9. Extensive time and money has been devoted to develop and preserve the Desert Foothills Scenic Drive, minimizing the height and visibility of adjacent structures and maximizing expansive views of the Sonoran Desert landscape; and

10. There are no remotely similar signs within many miles of this site - part of a Scenic Corridor - and the community has no desire to see those circumstances change; and

11. Local residents have invested considerable sums to acquire and maintain their residences and the non-commercial character of their neighborhoods – a character with which 25-foot high, illuminated advertising signs are incompatible; and

12. Residents of many similar areas in North Scottsdale fear that approval of these signs could easily become a catalyst for ever-increasing commercialization of many of their currently low density, rural or semi-rural neighborhoods.

NOW THEREFORE THE UNDERSIGNED RESIDENTS and FRIENDS of SCOTTSDALE

urge the Development Review Board to reject the application for two intrusive, 25-foot-high, illuminated advertising signs to be located along the Desert Foothills Scenic Drive of North Scottsdale as the signs are:
• not in keeping with the desired desert character, the protection of which is detailed in many City regulations;
• not in keeping with the character or desires of adjacent and nearby rural and semi-rural residential neighborhoods;
• logically unnecessary to secure the continued financial success of the Summit Center.