OPINION

from Scottsdale Progress - 1.16.2022

by Times Media Group

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Webinar gives public a peak at tourism in Scottsdale

BY RACHEL SACCO Progress Guest Writer

Did you know that Scottsdale’s 11 million visitors accounted for 23% of total privilege tax collections in 2019?

Did you know that those same visitorpaid tax dollars helped fund city events like Scottsdazzle and Western Week?

And that they supported Experience Scottsdale’s efforts to promote travel and tourism, from generating thousands of positive articles and television segments about Scottsdale to securing hundreds of meetings and conferences at hotels and resorts?

If not, then we hope you’ll join Experience Scottsdale and the city of Scottsdale from 9 to 10 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 3, for a virtual webinar, “A Look Inside Scottsdale’s Tourism Industry.”

Tourism is vital to Scottsdale’s community, supporting our local economy and elevating our quality of life. For 35 years, the city of Scottsdale and Experience Scottsdale have partnered to ensure Scottsdale’s tourism industry remains bene�icial to the community at large.

Yet despite this decades-long partnership, many Scottsdale residents are unfamiliar with the inner workings of Experience Scottsdale and the city of Scottsdale’s Tourism & Events department. That’s understandable, because Experience Scottsdale’s efforts, in particular, largely target leisure visitors and clients outside of Arizona.

For example, we share our commercial with Canadians; we pitch Scottsdale stories to New York media; we connect with Chicago and D.C.-based meeting planners at trade shows; and we provide hands on training to London travel advisors, to name just a few.

Our programs span the globe – yet many in the local community may never come across our various, year-round promotions that establish Scottsdale as a destination for meetings, events and leisure travel. We hope to change that with our ongoing “A Look Inside Scottsdale’s Tourism Industry” series. As a Scottsdale resident, you bene�it from the visitors who travel to Scottsdale as a result of our promotions.

The city invests visitor-paid tax dollars into important public services like police, �ire and transportation. Many of those dollars also are used to support and grow tourism events and capital projects, from Canal Convergence to Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West. Such events and amenities are enjoyed by visitors and locals alike.

With “A Look Insider Scottsdale’s Tourism Industry,” over the course of an hour, you’ll hear from Mayor David D. Ortega, Scottsdale’s Tourism & Events Director, Experience Scottsdale’s Vice President of Community & Government Affairs, and me about how Experience Scottsdale and the city of Scottsdale collaborate to ensure Scottsdale’s tourism industry stays strong. By attending, you’ll learn about who we are, what we do and how we do it.

We’ll also offer a deeper dive into how the city distributes bed-tax dollars, how Experience Scottsdale leverages and maximizes our funding, and how we use research to guide our decisions. We also will provide an update on the latest and upcoming happenings in Scottsdale’s tourism industry.

As one the city’s largest partners since 1987, Experience Scottsdale feels a great responsibility to our community. As a resident, business owner or employee, you are just as much our stakeholder as any hotel, restaurant, gallery or golf course within our membership. We work on behalf of the industry and community.

Now, we want to share that work with you. We hope to see you in the next few months and introduce you to our partnership with the city of Scottsdale. Visit Experiencescottsdale.com/Community and use the About Us dropdown to register for the Feb. 3 tourism industry webinar. If you would like information on future sessions, contact Experience Scottsdale Director of Community Affairs Stephanie Pressler at spressler@experiencescottsdale.com. -Rachel Sacco is the president and CEO of Experience Scottsdale.

As a resident, business owner or employee, you are just as much our stakeholder as any hotel, restaurant, gallery or golf course within our membership. We work on behalf of the industry and community.

Greenbelt 88 supporter outlines its bene�its

BY FRAYDE YUDKOWSKY

Progress Guest Writer

Scottsdale’s LuckyPlaz at the southwest corner of Hayden and Osborn roads is a 41-year-old shopping plaza. It has been controlled by an entity owned by Todd Silver for the past 18 years and has been kept in meticulous condition. The old plaza has become an outdated commercial site and big box retail is extremely challenging. Furthermore, 8,000 square feet have been vacant for 10 years and the national or local community tenants have not supported renting these vacant spaces.

Greenbelt88 is being rezoned to a planned unit development; redesigned into a mixed-use development establishing a brighter future for the Scottsdale community by creating a vibrant retail and residential property of 238 units and 28,000 square feet of retail.

Greenbelt88 includes retail, restaurants, modern apartments, a paseo for pedestrians, strollers and cyclists, shaded areas with benches, ample parking and the property backs up to a beautiful golf course that will have a new restaurant facing the golf course. There will be no short-term rentals, new traffic turn signals at the expense of the owner, new deceleration lanes, huge amount of city fees, ongoing property tax fees, a non-gated apartment complex with free-flowing open space to the community, two public art displays, and outdoor living and open space. The retail stores and apartments will be completely redesigned with upgraded modern architecture by the acclaimed Nelsen Partners.

Jeff Brand, a partner at Nelsen Partners and the lead architect, is a Scottsdale resident who lives walking distance to the proposed redevelopment and has personally invested countless hours to see this project benefit the citizens of Scottsdale.

The Scottsdale Planning Commission approved Greenbelt88 with 278 units

and 25,000SF of retail along with other architectural changes to the project. The plan is now being modified down to 238 units, which include eight units of workforce for the benefit of the community. Greenbelt88 will meet all the building requirements of Scottsdale’s Green Building Program and has exceeded all the requirements of the city.

Prior to moving to the Scottsdale City Council public hearing, there were some community activists concerned with height, density and traffic. The owner’s team has mitigated these perceived issues. The traffic has been mitigated with traffic engineers and the city. According to a study by CivTech Inc., licensed traffic engineers, Greenbelt88 would generate fewer daily trips than a solely commercial property.

There was a false narrative that the Greenbelt88 project would be a high-rise. Greenbelt88 is a lowrise development reaching 36 and approximately 45 feet at different points. Most of the outside perimeter of the building facing the golf course will appear to be three floors and approximately 36 feet.

Greenbelt88 has complied with the recently improved parking codes and will have abundant parking in a concealed parking garage that will not be visible from the street. Plus, there will be convenient surface parking near the retail and restaurants and will also accommodate extra guest parking.

Redevelopment of Greenbelt88 will contribute to the city to pay for preserves, parks, police and fire departments, amenities and may help keep property taxes low and property values stable. By adding apartments to Greenbelt88 we are contributing to the ease in which renters can rent modern homes at competitive rental rates.

To keep the economy bustling and the community thriving for decades to come, Greenbelt88 is one way to ensure that Scottsdale remains the city we know and love. Additional information could be found on our website at Greenbelt88.com or on our Instagram page.

You are invited to complete the short survey at rb.gy/ll2utj.