Scottsdale council votes to repeal community sustainability plan after hours of public comment

Scottsdale City Council on Jan. 14, 2025, voted to repeal the Scottsdale Community Sustainability Plan and directed staff to form a new sustainability task force, a move that drew steady public opposition during an extended public-comment period.

The vote came after dozens of residents and sustainability professionals urged the council to keep and implement the plan approved in December. Mayor Lisa Borowski presided as councilmembers debated the repeal and ultimately adopted Resolution 13335 to remove the plan from city policy and task staff with creating a replacement process.

The plan’s supporters told the council the document is a community-built, data-informed roadmap developed over roughly three years with multiple workshops, commission reviews and hundreds of resident interactions. Natalie Chrisman Lazar, a professional civil engineer and former chair of the Scottsdale Environmental Advisory Commission, said the plan "is a measured community-focused roadmap" and emphasized it contains no mandates or auditing provisions. Physician and Environmental Advisory Commission…