OBON expands to 2nd location / P. 28
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week
NEWS................................... 8 Planning Commission split on tall office building
NEIGHBORS................. 16 Pageant queen fights for prison reform
SOUTH .............................21 OdySea now autism friendly
NEIGHBORS .........................16 OPINION .............................. 23 BUSINESS .............................24
ARTS .................................... 25 FOOD & DRINK...................28 CLASSIFIEDS .......................30
Enjoy the view and the food / P. 25
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE OF SCOTTSDALE) | scottsdale.org
Sunday, July 21, 2019
Why city pulled back on $3M condo deal BY WAYNE SCHUTSKY Progress Managing Editor
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ondo owner Paul Ng was surprised when he found out the City of Scottsdale had planned to buy a commercial unit at the Gateway at Main Street Plaza complex as part of a deal to remove a height restriction standing in the way of the Museum Square development. That deal, nixed by city staff just hours before the Council was set to vote on July 2, would have required taxpayers to shell out $2.25 million for a commercial condo unit and spend another $700,000 on renovations in return for lifting a 15-year-old height limit on city-owned land. Deed restrictions that date back nearly 100 years – one of which is racist with the other banning the sale of alcohol – also have complicated Scottsdale’s agreement to sell the city-owned land for $28 million. The removal of the height limit would allow ARC Scottsdale Holdings to build Museum Square, which includes a 150-foot-high hotel and residential buildings over 100 feet
Condo owner Paul Ng does not believe the Gateway at Main Street Plaza condominium’s HOA Board had the authority to remove a height restriction at the request of the City of Scottsdale and Museum Square developer ARC Scottsdale Holdings without first consulting all owners in the community. (Kimberly Carillo/Progress Staff Photographer)
tall on land neighboring the condos. Ng, a past president of the HOA’s board, was surprised by the potential deal because he and other condo owners had not been
consulted. Rather, city staff made a presentation
tions, but the source of the complaint was unknown at the time. But new documents obtained by the Progress via Arizona’s public records laws show that Greenburg – who took of�ice in January – �iled the complaint on June 26 after reviewing audio recordings of two meetings. Greenburg told the Progress that he originally sought to view the meeting details to “to assess the veracity of com-
ments made in an executive session I attended and cannot be disclosed here.” However, due to delays in accessing the information, he was not able to use them for that purpose. Greenburg said he still listened to the meetings because he thought they may contain information relevant to discussions of internal auditing at the district –
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New school board member �iled AG complaint BY WAYNE SCHUTSKY Progress Managing Editor
S
cottsdale Uni�ied School District Governing Board Member Jann-Michael Greenburg �iled the recent complaint with the Arizona Attorney General’s Of�ice alleging open meeting law violations by current and former board members. The Progress �irst reported on July 14 that the AG is looking into alleged viola-
Andrew Bloom REALTOR®, Senior Partner Andrew@BVOLuxury.com VOTED #1 SCOTTSDALE REAL ESTATE TEAM FOR 2018
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