The Taxpayers Against Awful Apartment Zoning Exemptions (TAAAZE), led by former Councilman Bob Littlefield, organized a referendum regarding the Axon development in Scottsdale. According to Mayor Lisa Borowsky, most of the signatures collected for the referendum—about 25,000 out of 27,000—were gathered with financial support from a California labor union.
Mayor Borowsky stated that the Scottsdale City Council decided to delay the referendum election on the Axon project until November 2026. “Just as our U.S. Constitution guarantees a defendant the right to a speedy trial, in this instance, Axon was told by a majority of my council colleagues, their trial by election would be delayed two years, set in November 2026,” she said.
Axon appealed this decision to the Arizona Legislature. The result was Senate Bill 1543 (“the Axon bill”), which was passed and signed into law. This legislation granted an exception to local zoning control for Axon’s project. “Axon ‘won’ an exception to local zoning control, which effectively made our votes in the referendum election moot,” Borowsky explained.
Borowsky noted that SB 1543 has legal vulnerabilities: “However, the Axon bill had defects that make it susceptible to constitutional legal challenges. If the election was held before the legislature fixed those issues, it would have made SB 1543 meaningless.”
In July and again in October, Borowsky requested that the City Council hold an earlier referendum election—first proposing November 2025 and then March 2026—but these requests were denied by Councilmembers Dubauskas, Graham and Littlefield. “Councilmembers Dubauskas, Graham and Littlefield refused, and they were successful in blocking a timely election set earlier this month — at de minimis cost to the city,” she said.
Borowsky questioned Littlefield’s public statements about supporting voter input: “Mr. Littefield has been quoted as saying, ‘I always said we need to let people vote on the issue,’ which is a curious comment from Bob because his political allies on City Council repeatedly denied my requests to hold an early election.” She also cited reports that delaying the vote may have been motivated by re-election concerns for certain council members.
Ultimately, Mayor Borowsky negotiated with Axon for reduced housing density at the proposed site: “I promised the voters to oppose high-density apartments. In keeping with my promise, I negotiated a major reduction of density, down from 2,000 apartments to 600 apartments and 600 condominiums.” She added that TAAAZE representatives would have agreed if Axon built even fewer apartments but more condominiums: “Importantly, TAAAZE representatives agreed to resolve the entire dispute if Axon agreed to build 500 apartments and 1,000 condos.”
Borowsky concluded her statement by urging for prompt elections on such issues in order not to lose local voting rights due to legislative action: “Delaying the election cost us our right to vote on the Axon project and resulted in the city being stuck with SB 1543.”
Lisa Borowsky is currently serving her first term as mayor of Scottsdale.
