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 member Dr. Alisa McMahon described the plan as a public-health effort, citing research linking extreme heat and air pollution to higher mortality and urging the council not to repeal it.

Residents described the pace and timing of the repeal as particularly contentious. Ryan Johnson, a 30-year resident, told the council that the plan’s repeal so soon after adoption would be seen as a political act: "The headlines will be about how Scottsdale’s new mayor and council have just repealed the city's first sustainability plan," he said, warning of reputational harm to major local events and sponsors.

Speakers who supported repeal or changes raised concerns about perceived policy overreach and potential hidden costs. Council debate highlighted differing views: some members said the plan lacked clear, implementable action items and that the council should craft a concise set of priorities and measurable actions. Vice Mayor Barry Graham moved to adopt Resolution 13335 to repeal the plan and establish a task force; the motion passed after procedural rulings and a vote.

Council members and staff repeatedly acknowledged the depth of public participation that produced the plan and several councilmembers said they would like staff and any new council subcommittee or task force to produce a shorter, actionable set of priorities drawn from the plan rather than discarding all work.

The meeting record shows dozens of public speakers on the item, including longtime residents, sustainability professionals, local business and civic leaders, and youth speakers who urged the council to preserve the plan. Speakers referenced regional partners and corporate sponsors that promote sustainability — Waste Management, TPC Scottsdale and the Thunderbirds among them — and warned of potential economic and public-health consequences of repeal.

The council’s motion and adoption of Resolution 13335 remove the Scottsdale Community Sustainability Plan from city policy and direct staff to create a new sustainability task force; the resolution text and implementation timeline were not fully specified during the meeting. Several members urged that any next steps be drafted to preserve resident input and produce clear, measurable actions for departments to implement.

The council meeting included procedural contention during debate, including a councilmember’s call to end discussion ("call the question") and a subsequent motion adopting the resolution. The public reaction in the hearing room was vocal; the mayor asked for order multiple times as speakers debated and left the chamber.

The council did not publish a detailed implementation schedule or a final membership roster for the new task force during the meeting. City staff indicated the new group would be created pursuant to the council’s direction after staff returns with an implementation plan. The repeal and direction to form a task force mark the beginning of a rewrite process rather than immediate adoption of a replacement plan.

The repeal of the plan was the most contested item of the evening and is likely to shape follow-up council and staff work in the coming months, including how the city prioritizes measurable, department-level actions tied to water, heat mitigation, waste diversion and air quality.

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