Residents urge council to halt Brown Avenue parking garage plan and restore canceled sustainability plan

During the public-comment period, several residents urged the council to reconsider a proposed parking garage on Brown Avenue in Old Town and called for the reinstatement of a recently canceled Scottsdale sustainability plan.

Steve Sutton told the council a petition is circulating demanding a parking study focused on Old Town's Southeast and Southwest quadrants and warned the garage would harm the area's historic character. "People and business owners do not want a garage," Sutton said, adding that the petition asks for a transparent, nonpartisan study similar in method to the city's 2015 parking study.

French Thompson, who said he had documented 169 small businesses around the Corral lot area, argued the Corral (crowd) lot site is the best location to add parking and that infrastructure and foundations were already built to allow a multi-level garage. "For a multitude of reasons, this is by far the best location to add additional parking south of Indian School in Old Town," Thompson said.

Other speakers used the public-comment period to press the council on the sustainability-plan repeal. Vanessa Goldberg, who identified herself as a resident, urged the council to reinstate the sustainability plan, saying the city faces increasing drought, heat and wildfire risks. "I am inviting the council to reconsider this January action to revive the Scottsdale sustainability plan," Goldberg said, referring to the council vote earlier in the year that removed the plan from city policy.

Jane Adamson, a long-term resident, similarly urged council action to protect Scottsdale's environmental reputation and warned of long-term costs if the city avoids sustainability measures. Several other speakers expressed concern about the parking proposal's design impacts and the need for transparent outreach and parking-analysis methodology.

The comments did not produce an immediate council action on the garage proposal at this meeting; the speakers were part of the non-agendized public-comment period and the council noted that items raised there could not be acted on immediately but could be referred to staff for follow-up.