Scottsdale North Park
Scottsdale North Park
Update September 30, 2023
Check Out The Latest Podcast With Nick Molinari from City Of Scottsdale
Update September 30, 2022
Click Here to Sign The Petition ?
After about an hour and a half of hearing reports and public input, the Scottsdale Planning and Zoning commission unanimously approved the park Wednesday night! It now goes to City Council and we will keep you informed.
Over 350 of you signed our Change.org petition showing the community wanted the park they created. Thank you all very much for taking the time. This park is going to be something we can all be proud of.
Update September 14, 2022
Click Here to Sign The Petition ?
Roughly 20 years ago, the city of Scottsdale erected two 10-foot-high signs along North 74th Way, indicating this was the “Future site of the 15-acre Sevano Village Park – a City of Scottsdale Public Park.” These gave clear notice of the City’s intent to develop a significant public park on this specific property. Other land use plans provided clear indications of where future residential developments might be undertaken.
In 2017/18, a number of area residents approached the city, noting that this area was underserved (from a recreational park’s perspective) and requesting that the development of the site be actively pursued.
The City Administration came to understand how important this park was to the area residents when over 200 showed up at the first public meeting and many had to be turned away as a consequence of overcrowding. City officials who were present mentioned their shock at the turnout and enthusiasm. One member later commented that the passion displayed at the meeting resulted in the City Administration changing the project from relatively low on the agenda of projects to a priority.
Since then, the citizens actively supported successful bond financing advanced by a vote of the City Council Incentivized by that funding; the City Administration has retained the services of a park designer and a contractor to commence the development of an outstanding park. Residents have monitored progress and grown increasingly comfortable with the clear progress being made. Then a local newspaper ran an unanticipated article noting how several local individuals had chosen to take issue with the plan and subsequently influenced the Scottsdale Planning Commission (via a 4:3 vote) to put the project on hold in spite of the active, avid support of the Parks and Recreation Department.
The referenced article was titled “Commission delays vote on the controversial park.” This came as a shock to all involved in that the park had never proven to be controversial during the many open and candid public discussions.
The park’s initial plan was for 15 acres to be taken up by a public library, basketball courts, arts and cultural performance space, lit ball fields, turf play spaces, and a playground for kids with around 65% active recreation. The plan that the community developed over the past few years and to which this handful of residents is now objecting uses barely 3 acres with approximately 3% for active recreation! The city has thoroughly and expensively examined the effects on traffic, lighting, and sound and found that they are minimal to nonexistent.
Contracts for the design and construction of the plan, which the community has developed and supported, have been agreed. Development is now on hold. If you would like to have that plan expeditiously implemented, please join your neighbors and sign this petition; it will signal to the City Administration and Council that there are far more active, positive, supportive voices to be heard than simply the several now who, at the 11th hour, is taking issue with matters well addressed and resolved by Parks and Recreation.
Click Here to Sign The Petition ?
Update September 02, 2022
City of Scottsdale – Case Info Sheet https://eservices.scottsdaleaz.gov/bl…
City of Scottsdale – City Construction Projects – Ashler Hills Park https://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/construc…
Update August 29, 2022
Scottsdale Progress Article
Commission delays vote on controversial park
- By J. Graber Progress Staff Writer Aug 23, 2022
The controversial $6.1 million Ashler Hills Park has been put on hold by the Scottsdale Planning Commission after area residents spoke against it at a recent meeting.
The commission voted 4-3 to delay a vote on the park until it gets more information about possible light and noise pollution as well as extra traffic the park might generate for the nearby Las Piedras subdivision.
Commission members also wanted information about possibly putting a canopy over the pickleball and the basketball courts planned for the park in order to prevent light pollution.
Commission Chair Renee Higgs and members Barney Gonzales, Christian Serena and George Ertel voted to put the vote on hold.
“It seems like there are a lot more questions than what was answered tonight,” Gonzales said.
Commissioners Joe Young, Diana Kaminski and William Scarbrough voted against postponing the vote.
The $6.1 million park at the intersection of Ashler Hills Drive and N. 74th Way was identified as a project to be completed in the city’s $319 million 2019 bond package.
The entire site is 15 acres. However, only 3.36 acres are tentatively earmarked for developed park. The rest of the park is set at this point to be either undisturbed or re-vegetated area.
The developed area right now is slated to include eight pickleball courts, a basketball court and two small open turf areas (each roughly the size of a basketball court). It will also include a shaded playground and restrooms as well as 70 parking spaces.
The city held open houses to learn what area residents wanted at the park in the spring and fall of 2021.
“We did receive recommendations and comments 2-1 that we build more pickleball courts than the proposed eight pickleball courts that we have on the current site plan,” Scottsdale Parks and Recreation Director Nick Molinari said.
He said the city heard some concerns about the number of parking spaces, but it also heard “significant” concern about cars parking on the street and clogging up the lanes of travel.
The most common comment the city heard during the initial phase of the public input period was that people wanted a dog park on the site, even though that would draw people (and traffic) from many different neighborhoods and potentially ruin the neighborhood park designation.
“They didn’t want sound. They didn’t want traffic. They didn’t want noise but they wanted an off leash area that attracts people from all over the place (and produces) a lot of sound and noise,” Molinari said.
A group of five residents from Las Piedras spoke against the park on the grounds it will add noise and light pollution to their community and will jam up the street with traffic.
“Noise, light and traffic impacts will not be contained within the park boundary,” Susan Harnois said.
She said the plan for the park has grown over the years.
“The 2018 plan approves one tennis court, a basketball court and three pickleball courts,” Harnois said. “The current proposal proposes one basketball court and eight pickleball courts. The parking lot has (grown) from 19 to 70 parking spaces.”
Mike Fiflis was worried about light pollution.
“We don’t need a map to know our community is very dark,” Fiflis said. “We strictly adhere to low-light standards.”
But Chris Brown, a landscape architect on the project, said the park uses short poles and low-powered lights to keep light within the confines of the park. He noted landscaping around the park should also block noise.
Ron Coates noted the city recognizes between community parks and neighborhood parks, which Ashler Hills Park is.
The Scottsdale Community Services Master Plan defines a community park as around 65% of its use as active recreation and a neighborhood park as having around 25% active recreation.
“The (traffic study) indicates 78% of the park visitors will come for active recreation, while 22 percent will come for passive,” Coates said. “This is the polar opposite of a neighborhood park and defines a community park.”
Brown reiterated that only about 3.3% of the park is designated for active recreation.
Several area residents requested the hours of the park, from sunrise to 10:30 p.m. (as are the hours for all city parks), be shortened.
“I do want to say that pickleball is … a very, very disruptive noise,” Yuri Keuchle said. “It’s a loud pop and it’s very consistent and if it’s going on to 10 o’clock and we do hear it, it’s going to be disruptive to us.
“So the question I have for you to consider is, you’ve done the study, you’ve built the courts. We have eight courts, you have 24 people playing and if it is disruptive, what is our recourse as neighbors? What do we do then after it’s open?”
Brown said a noise study shows sound completely dissipates before people leave the park.
Dr. Alisa McMahon said she knows the park is coming, but wants reasonable hours.
“We have to live with this park,” McMahon said. “We have to get this right. We are not going to kill the park, although some of our neighbors would like that.
“We have lost a few that moved away because the park is coming but most of us are just seeking a reasonable level of development that preserves our quiet enjoyment and preserves our property values.”
Gonzales wanted to know if Ashler Hills Park is considered a neighborhood park or a community park.
Molinari said it was indeed a neighborhood.
Gonzales also asked if lowering the sports courts would prevent noise from escaping the boundaries.
Brown said the courts could be lowered but it would not affect noise because the study says it’s imperceptible.
“The effort to lower the courts may have a perceived benefit but I don’t believe it would have an actual benefit in terms or sound or light,” Brown said.
Serena wanted to know if the two open turf fields would be considered part of the active recreation portion of the park.
“Currently, no,” Brown said.
Molinari said, “We don’t anticipate there being any organized sports in turf areas that small.”
The exact size of the turf fields was not determined at the meeting.
Serena noted the bond 2019 bond package promised a particular type of park but the site plan seems to have changed.
“I’m still trying to figure out why that change was so large or what the thinking was behind that … what was the synergy between the presentation prior and post-election?”
Molinari said, “We’ll start with some kind of general site plan. Then we put that out to the community and we ask for feedback and it becomes a compromise … based on what we hear from the public.”
“Overwhelmingly what they told us is, ‘You’re under programming this space. This space is under programmed from an active space perspective.’ So, to get to what we’re at now, we feel like that’s a compromise.
“If we discounted all the public input we received through months of virtual in houses and community connections, I don’t know that necessarily speaks to the idea of specific engagement as it relates to this project.”
Commissioner Diana Kaminski wondered if the foot candle level of the lights at the sports courts could be lowered.
Brown said the speed and intensity of the pickleball requires a certain level of light.
She also asked if the park could be skirted with non-native plants that are thicker and might better keep light and noise from the park from escaping to the nearby neighborhood, but Brown said it was important to use native plants.
It was also Kaminski’s idea to put some sort of canopy over the sports courts.
Update September 2021
Watch Scott demonstrate what might be a great idea for the park
Town Hall Meeting is still being determined by the city. Stay tuned for updates on when it will begin. It will be a virtual meeting and give ample time for everyone to voice their concerns and requests!
Scottsdale North Park is a 15 acre site located at Ashler Hills and 74th Way, right Next to Target in the Summit Shopping Center. The site was actually purchased by the city in 2002, but the only thing built since then was two signs like this one.
