Q&A: Scottsdale City Council candidate John Little

By Melissa Rosequist
Twitter: @mrosequist_

John Little visited Papago Park this week after neighbors voiced concerns on the project between Scottsdale and Phoenix — one topic of this week’s City Council candidate Q&A.

Mr. Little is one of six candidates seeking to be elected to three open seats for Scottsdale City Council in the Tuesday, Nov. 3, general election. Mail-in ballots will be sent to voters this week, the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office says.

This week’s questions come from Scottsdale Independent readers, who want to know candidates’ perspectives on issues near-and-dear to their heart.

Short-term rentals — also known as vacation homes — are criticized by homeowners as disrupting Arizona neighborhoods as online sites such as Airbnb and VRBO gain steam. Many residents question how to resolve the issue of unruly vacation properties in their neighborhoods.

A second hot topic is the Papago Park land-use agreement between Scottsdale, the city of Phoenix and the San Francisco Giants.

In November 2018, the Scottsdale City Council approved a lease of Papago Park with Phoenix, and a sublease with the Giants to provide the California baseball team with a permanent, dedicated year-round player-development facility at the Papago Sports Complex.

Read below to see what he has to say.

Do you support short-term rentals in Scottsdale’s neighborhoods?

I support private property rights and at the same time I support protecting our neighborhoods from short term rental scofflaws and profiteers. Many Scottsdale residents own vacation properties and especially during the pandemic are finding a little extra income comes in handy.

What change would you propose to fix the issue of short-term rentals if you had the authority?

I think the party house attraction of short-term rentals will slow down significantly when Scottsdale’s nightclubs and bars become open again for business. Closures of these businesses have driven customers to seek alternatives, and “party czars” quickly discovered residential properties in quiet neighborhoods worked nicely...for them. Unfortunately it hasn’t worked out very well for our residential neighborhoods.

I am aware that the short-term rental industry is exploring the formation of an industry group to bring professionalism, a code of ethics and standardized practices to the business. Their hope is to identify the “bad actors” and to work with regulators and local police and code enforcement staff to force them into compliance or force them out of business. I would support the formation of a group that could help “weed the garden” of violators and disreputable owner/operators and party companies.

Do you receive any financial benefit from STRs, STR owners, or Online lodging operators?

No.

People in Scottsdale and neighboring areas have concerns about the Giants project at Papago Park. They believe that this project: 1. Has caused serious harm to the scenery and desert landscape of that park; 2. That the financial conditions are inappropriate; and 3. It is unacceptable to build a private corporate compound in a public park. What are your feelings about this?

This project could well have benefited from a much more aggressive effort at citizen engagement. This is a classic example of a lost opportunity to effectively engage citizens in a project in a timely enough way to give meaning to their voices.

The fact that citizens are voicing concerns at this stage of the project tells me the system of gathering citizen input needs significant improvement. Just putting up project notification signs and holding open houses is insufficient. Complicating matters on this project is the multi-jurisdictional nature of the project. I visited the site yesterday and checked out the project fencing that seemed to extend well beyond the footprint of the approved project. I was assured the site plan has not changed since it was approved and that the fencing would be scaled back once construction was complete. I was also told the desert would be revegetated throughout the project.

I think people have a right to know that if a project is proposed and if it is approved, it should be built according to the plan. If a truly resident-friendly approach had been used, people who were likely to be impacted by the project would’ve been invited to the table in the initial phase of the project. Input is sought out, integrated and assimilated into the site plan and design.

An added benefit is the residents could also have developed a deeper understanding of the strategic importance of spring training as an economic pillar that enables us to live in a place with extraordinary services, low taxes while maintaining the property values of our homes.