The controversial 9400 Shea apartment complex near the intersection of Shea Boulevard and 92nd Street is dead – for now.
The developer Harmel and Kaplan pulled the rezoning request for the project from the city council agenda with no continuance date.
“That means they would have to start back from the very beginning for this project, back to the planning commission,” Scottsdale City Councilwoman Kathy Littlefield said.
Paul Gilbert, an attorney representing the developer, said his clients intend to bring the project back.
“The case needs some additional fine tuning before we bring it forward,” he said.
He did not say what specifically needs to be fine-tuned, adding, “We continue to believe the case has substantial merit and there is a need for residential in that area.”
The move to pull it from the agenda with no continuance date was a move to appease City Council, Gilbert said.
“The council indicated they didn’t want any more continuances, so we pulled it,” he said.
City Clerk Ben Lane pointed out, “The city zoning ordinance has a provision that if a project is denied or withdrawn after the Planning Commission hears the application, the Planning Commission may choose not to hear the same application for a period of one year.
“It is not an automatic prohibition against bringing back the same application. In addition, the applicant can change the application and not be subject to this provision.”
Susan Wood, of the citizen activist group Protect Scottsdale - which has opposed the project - never figured this is was the end of the matter.
“I think they are just waiting for the vote on the General Plan before they bring it back,” she said.
Wood thinks council members are trying to temporarily appease voters, some of whom have opposed the 9400 Shea project, so they approve the General Plan 2035 in the Nov. 2 mail-in election.
Once the election is over, she believes the project will go back to the Planning Commission.
“We just know it’s not over,” Wood said.
The project called for 219 apartments in four-story buildings on a 3.6-acre site.
The council was to vote Oct. 19 on rezoning the site along with an adjacent 7.4-acre parcel where the existing corporate center is to have a mixed-use designation.
By combining the two parcels, the developer could lower the density of units in the project and qualify for the mixed-use zoning.
The Planning commission voted 4-3 to recommend Council reject the project.
That vote was supported by many neighboring business owners, who argued the apartment project – which would have been located behind the connected shopping center without direct access to Shea Boulevard – would not have fit in an area dominated by commercial, retail and medical offices.
City staff received 20 statements opposing the project, including letters from 13 doctors who work in neighboring office parks and a letter from CVS Health Vice President Michael Kurimcak.
CVS Caremark, the national healthcare company, has a corporate office to the east of the 9400 Shea site.
Had it been approved, the 9400 Shea Project would have abutted the 9200 Ironwood project, which features 338 apartments in five or six story buildings on 3.92 acres.
The 9400 Shea project would have required the 9200 Ironwood project allow for an entrance from Shea Boulevard into the property.
The 9200 Ironwood project is still under consideration by the city council though there is no set date when council will consider that rezone request. The request was pulled from the Oct. 5 council agenda with no future date set at that time.
The Planning Commission narrowly voted to recommend the rezone of that project by a 4-3 vote on Sept. 23.
Commission Chair Renee Higgs, Vice Chair Joe Young as well as commissioners George Ertel and William Scarborough voted in favor of recommending the zoning variance for 92 Ironwood.
“I think the reason we need more apartments is because real estate is exploding,” Young said at the time. “I know my own home has tripled in value since I bought it.
“Those options to live in Scottsdale aren’t around anymore,” he continued. “I think people are still coming. There’s more and more employment coming to Scottsdale which I’ve got to believe, the City Council, the mayor are happy about bringing tax dollars. We need a place to put these people and multi-family seems to be the answer.”
Planning commissioners Christian Serena, Barney Gonzalez and Barry Graham voted against the proposal.