Scottsdale officials lock horns over Old Town parking congestion and plans to fix it

Scottsdale officials are divided over how to spend tens of millions of dollars earmarked to create more parking in the city’s notoriously parking-scarce downtown, an issue that has ignited a feud between Old Town residents who own properties on opposite sides of Indian School Road.

The downtown parking expansion is part of Scottsdale’s frequently overbudget Bond 2019 program. Voters approved the initiative that year and authorized the city to take on $319 million in debt to fund about 60 projects citywide, from WestWorld repairs to solar panel installation. The total cost of the program has increased significantly because of inflation and increased construction costs post-COVID-19.

About $21 million from Bond 2019 was slated to fund new parking garages in Old Town, where a 2015 city-commissioned study found that 85% of the area's 16,400 parking spots were taken up during the daytime. Old Town has an “effective shortage” of spots, the study said.

Staffers suggested three locations south of Indian School Road but did not commit to specific sites in 2019. Public Works Director Dan Worth said two of those suggestions proved undoable and that staffers have struggled to find workable alternatives, so the project has yet to get off the ground.

Now, just one of the original site suggestions and two new ones are on the table, both of which are north of Indian School. That’s where parking has become the worst in the city, but it’s far away from the more southern locations that originally were presented to voters.

It sparked a conflict between property owners in north and south Old Town about whether the change is dishonest because it’s different from the original site suggestions, or if it makes the most sense because of how the parking situation has changed.

City Council members are almost evenly split on the issue, which threatens to further delay the project.

“During my time in the city, there’s been a lot of chirping between north Scottsdale and south Scottsdale. It’s sad to see it now between north of Indian School and south of Indian School, when we just need more parking. Period,” Scottsdale Police Chief Jeff Walther said.

“Where we are struggling and have been struggling is north of Indian School,” he said, and building a garage there was “absolutely essential.”

Bond 2019 history: Scottsdale bond projects face 'staggering' cash shortfalls; $115M over budget

The two proposed north Old Town locations include a new two-story garage at Sixth Avenue and Stetson Drive and a garage within an upcoming apartment complex called the Artisan at Indian School Road and Marshall Way.

The first would create 144 spaces and cost about $15 million. The second would involve an agreement with the Artisan and create 57 new spaces at $40,000 apiece, which Worth called a “swinging deal” because it’s less than half of what it would typically cost.

The only location south of Indian School would be a garage that would replace the existing Old Town Civic Center Parking Corral at First Street and Brown Avenue. A one-story garage would cost $10.5 million and create 97 spaces, while two stories would cost $15 million and create 216 parking spots.

‘Bringing sand to the beach’: Southernmost garage useless, foes say

Councilmember Tammy Caputi was the most vocal opponent of the corral garage. She said it was a waste of money and suggested the city cut that option, which would keep the overall parking project under the original Bond 2019 budget.

“We all know that northeast (Old Town) is where the garage should go, but for some reason we’re considering spending $10 million or even $15 million to build parking where there is no data or facts showing that it is needed,” she said. “As a steward of our public dollars, I can’t in good conscience support this needless spending.”

Caputi added, “We are bringing sand to the beach by talking about building additional parking at the corral,” citing the hundreds of spaces already in that area.

She was joined by City Councilmember Tom Durham, who addressed the “claim that we would be dishonest with the citizens if we said, ‘Oh we’re going to use the bond funds in someplace different than we actually told you.’”

“I think citizens would be even more upset if they learned we were going to use those bond funds on a garage that’s going to be empty 95% of the time,” he said, referring to the San Francisco Giants’ 15-game spring training schedule that takes place near the corral.

Both pointed to what they said were plenty of consistently empty spaces in the area, arguing that spending money on more parking there would be useless and fiscally irresponsible.

About 350 small business owners in Old Town agreed with Caputi and Durham. The signed a petition asking the city to build the new parking structures in northeast Old Town, where the 2015 parking study shows the biggest parking space deficit of anywhere downtown.

‘Our promises shouldn’t change’: The most expensive option aligns most with Bond 2019 plan

Councilmembers Betty Janik, Kathy Littlefield and Barry Graham dismissed that argument, saying that parking was also needed in south Old Town for events. Walther also recognized a need for more parking south of Indian School.

“I do not like one neighborhood fighting with another over parking. And I know that the northeast needs parking, but I also know that the other areas do,” Janik said. “Based on what we saw with all of the activities in our new Civic Center, we need more parking, and we need it in both areas.”

Janik, Littlefield and Graham favored pursuing all three parking locations and opted for the two-story option at the corral site, which would put the project more than $11 million over the original budget.

The core of their argument was that voters expected the parking locations to be south of Indian School during the Bond 2019 election, even though the ballot measure didn’t specifically say that.

“I remember this vote. I remember this election. And people expected this to be built in the arts district,” Littlefield said.

Graham said the parking shortage in northern Old Town “was by design.” He pointed to a parking credit program that Scottsdale created to incentivize development on small parcels downtown, which basically reduces the minimum number of parking spots for developments.

His argument was that the city shouldn’t fix a problem it caused by going back on what voters expected during the Bond 2019 election, even if the parking issues have become more pronounced in north Old Town since then.

“Things can change, but our promises shouldn’t change. People are looking at this and they are wondering if we’re going to keep our word,” Graham said.

“We sold the 2019 bonds with a reasonable expectation to locate three locations south of Indian School … We cited three examples south of Indian School, which lead voters to the reasonable expectation that’s where it would go.”

3rd option: Nix the ‘gross’ garage at the corral, move it further south

Mayor David Ortega and Councilmember Solange Whitehead didn’t fit neatly into either camp. Both of them took issue with the corral location, but for aesthetic reasons.

The proposed garage would be situated in an area of Old Town that is almost exclusively one-story buildings that have an Old West appearance. Plus, the specific property is a parking lot where farmer’s markets are hosted.

Ortega said that placing a parking garage in the most “western”-looking area of the city would be doing a disservice to Scottsdale, a city that bills itself as the "The West's Most Western Town."

“I can’t go for the thing," Ortega said. "It’s gross. It’s just not going to work there.”

“It would be such a monstrosity in front of the Mission Church,” he said. “We would be giving up a farmer’s market, we would be giving up the space and breathing room that Old Town has.”

The mayor suggested finding another location further south, which Whitehead supported.

Whitehead didn’t take a clear position on the plan other than saying “I’m not really sure where I stand.”

But she did agree with Graham and Littlefield about voter perception that the Bond 2019 plan indicated the parking garages would be south of Indian School.

The City Council didn’t vote on a final plan. It's unclear when they would.

Regardless of how the chips fall, officials agree the downtown parking issue needs to be alleviated soon to keep traffic moving to the small businesses downtown and avoid situations where it’s next to impossible for visitors to park.

“The whole time I’ve been here, I’ve heard about downtown parking. And I’ve looked at all of the things we’ve done, and it just doesn’t seem to go away,” City Manager Jim Thompson said. “To be quite frank, I wish we could find a solution for downtown.”

“We are in a predicament where I feel like we have to move forward and do something with downtown to hopefully relieve some of the concerns.”

Reporter Sam Kmack covers Tempe, Scottsdale and Chandler. Follow him on X @KmackSamor reach him at sam.kmack@arizonarepublic.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Scottsdale officials square off over Old Town parking options