Scottsdale Moves Closer to Ban on Big Boxes

SCOTTSDALE, AZ-The Scottsdale City Council has taken one large step toward a total ban on big box retail stores in the northern portion of the city.

The council directed Community Development staff to craft an ordinance that would legally ban big-box retailers on environmentally sensitive land, north of Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard, says Kroy Ekblaw, director of the Community Development department.

Local zoning attorneys representing some of the large retailers have said that any ban would be illegal, but City Attorney David Pennartz says he can draft a version that would be legal. The ordinance would be part of the city’s Environmentally Sensitive Lands Ordinance, which was passed in 1991 to preserve open desert, and it would apply to any commercial building over 75,000 sf in size and