Leaders in Scottsdale are asking Axon to renegotiate HQ plans after 26,000 signature petition
Scottsdale Mayor talks Axon HQ, housing | Full video
Scottsdale's Mayor, Lisa Borowsky, and city officials held a press conference to address the controversy surrounding Axon's headquarters and its housing plans on March 27.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - The city of Scottsdale is hoping to bring law enforcement technology company Axon Enterprise to the negotiating table following approval for expanding the company's headquarters on Hayden Road.
The city council voted in favor of a new 400,000-square-foot office building for the company, but after pushback by the public they are aiming to renegotiate to alleviate citizen concerns.
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Axon looks to build headquarters in Scottsdale, but some residents are against the project
Axon Enterprise, Inc. is a Scottsdale-based law enforcement technology company, and it’s growing. It’s got its eyes set on expanding its headquarters on Hayden Road, south of Loop 101. Some aren't too happy about it, though.
Axon's vision
Axon is looking to grow its global headquarters to a nearly 70-acre site with more than 1,900 multi-family residential units, a hotel and six buildings between three and five stories tall. Four of those buildings would be residential.
It is located just south of Loop 101 on Hayden Road.
An alteration to zoning restrictions in the area was required to allow approval for the new world headquarters in November.
In January, construction was paused.
Timeline:
Immediately after the November board meeting, Scottsdale residents had 40 days to collect 15,000 signatures to stop the project for two years and put the continuance of the project to another vote.
Scottsdale mayor Lisa Borowski said that 26,000 signatures were obtained in that time.
Now, the Scottsdale City Council wants to renegotiate with Axon to find an equitable solution for the city, residents and the company.
What they're saying:
A citizen-initative to stop the company called Taxpayers Against Awful Apartment Zoning Exemptions led the way in collecting the signatures to stop the company from building in Scottsdale.
The main complaint of the group is the 1,900 residential units that will bring undesirable growth to residents already living in the area.
"I don’t want to see the desert being built up," Richard Isaac, a Scottsdale Stonebrook II resident, said in November. "I want to be able to enjoy the desert, which is why I think a lot of us have moved here. To get away from the big city."
Other reasons for the pushback by the current administration in Scottsdale revolves around the city's potential inability to enforce zoning laws on future large-scale projects at the city level.
Both Mayor Borowski and Arizona House Representative Alexander Kolodin said that the city wants to keep the company in Scottsdale but they want to find a middle ground to keep residents happy.
Why Axon matters?
By the numbers:
Axon Enterprise is a company with a market cap of $43.41 billion. They were funded in Scottsdale in 1993 and employees between 1,001-5,000, according to the company's LinkedIn page.
According to Financecharts.com, Axon is by far the most successful company in Scottsdale.
Only nine Scottsdale-based companies have a Market Cap of more than $1 billion with the next closest, ON Semiconductor, coming in at $18.631 billion.
Proponents of the development say that it is important to keep successful, home-grown companies in Arizona.
What we know:
Axon has other corporate offices in Seattle, London, Amsterdam, Boston and Australia.
The company's CEO Rick Smith has threatened to move the company to Seattle or Atlanta if the Scottsdale project is not completed.