Log in

Opinion

Moore: My focus as 2021 approaches

Posted

Dear voters,

One of our fundamental freedoms is our right to vote — and you had your opportunity this past month to exercise this right.

All my fellow colleagues on council were re-elected as was I. I would like to congratulate each of them on their re-election bid. As we prepare for the upcoming term, voting records do and should matter.

As your former vice mayor and current council member, my voting record is, and always has been consistent with our town values.

I have continually pushed back on developments, which are too dense, which seek to exceed our recommended height limits, and impose increased traffic and safety concerns.

Our country and our world is in a time of crisis, and that has an effect on our community. I’m already working with my colleagues to help navigate the town through these challenging times, and I believe it’s important to have strong, steady and continuous leadership to help Paradise Valley plan for its future.

The impact of COVID-19 will create challenges for the town’s fiscal picture.

Fortunately, we’ve benefited from prudent financial planning over the past decade that has positioned us well to weather the storm financially. It is critical that we continue to focus on fiscal responsibility so that we are best positioned to successfully emerge from this crisis.

My focus will be on several very important issues facing our town today. Our zoning, home values and security were eviscerated by the poorly written state law, SB 1350, favoring the creation of “neighborhood party motels.”

Even though Airbnb has officially started suspending short-term rentals listings in violation following complaints related to parties and large events, it still hasn’t stopped the numerous calls from residents on several short-term rentals that police regularly visit when responding to complaints.

Unfortunately, when Governor Ducey passed SB 1350 our town lost most of its legislative power to pass local laws that allow us to regulate short-term rentals at the local level. Thus, we are put in the terrible position of having to wait for “bad things to happen,” and then call upon our police department, rather than handling this as a zoning issue, as had been the case prior to the STR industry-pushed SB 1350.

While the Paradise Valley council has passed an unruly-gathering ordinance that code-enforcement officers and police can reference when called out to rental properties that are getting out of control, this is usually initiated by a neighbor having to call it in.

It’s like our residents must become the front desk and the hotel security for these unregulated hotels and it’s generally our town residents that first experience any unlawful and intrusive behavior when a short-term rental property becomes the destination for an event or party.

This is unacceptable, so with the help of my fellow council members lead by the leadership of our Mayor Jerry Bien-Willner, along with our town manger and staff, we’re committed to continue fighting back to regain local control of this issue.

In 2021, the council will begin revising our General Plan, a document that every 10 years is required by state statute to be updated. This document reshapes our zoning policies for the future, so I am committed to stay the course and continue my support of our traditional town values working on this document.

I will continue to vote to uphold all our town’s cherished values. With my background in civil planning and engineering I have brought to the Town Council knowledge and wisdom on all these matters including better oversight on hillside development, sound solutions for our ongoing drainage problems, traffic solutions and project oversight on all development applications.

I am excited to be involved in the update of our General Plan and look forward to input from our residents as we go through this very transparent process.

I am working diligently to protect and preserve the things that make Paradise Valley great. Limited and responsive government. Our unique residential character. A commitment to public safety. All of these things have been my priority for the past four years and will be my priority moving forward.

If you have any questions or feedback on our community’s future, please e-mail me at smoore@paradisevalleyaz.gov.

Editor’s Note: Scott Moore is an elected member of Paradise Valley Town Council.