Scottsdale voters should have say on desert center

Scottsdale’s power set is back with yet another grand plan to develop land that the city’s residents have taxed themselves to preserve. Only they don’t call it a development. It’s being sold as a “living structure that is very much integrated into the desert.”

A living structure that would cost $61.2 million to build. In other words, a development. Scottsdale’s leaders have long dreamed of building a desert interpretive center at the main entrance of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve.

What they haven’t dreamed about: asking voters whether they want to foot the bill to develop land they have taxed themselves — and others who spend money in Scottsdale — to preserve.

Public involvement mostly has revolved around the outlay of public cash for various studies, each of which envisioned a progressively grander Desert Discovery Center. Until now.

Faced with mobilized citizen opposition, the DDC supporters have once again “reimagined” their plan.

And given that “DDC” is now what amounts to a four-letter word in some parts of Scottsdale, they’ve renamed it, too. The DDC is now Desert EDGE.

It’s smaller (47,586 square feet covering just under 6 acres, instead of 72,000 square feet covering a third of a 30-acre site). And it’s cheaper ($61.2 million, instead of $74 million).

The Desert Discovery Center Scottsdale — a group of well-connected preserve activists, tourism and business leaders who landed a city contract to plan the center — and Swaback Partners, a well-connected architectural firm that also snagged a contract, say the plan is based on citizen feedback.

“We have done a lot of listening. There’s a lot more to do,” architect John Sather said. “We just know that democracy is all about healthy debate.”

Democracy is also about putting the plan to a public vote — something the City Council has thus far declined to do. And, apparently, it doesn’t have to. City Attorney Bruce Washburn has said the council can use preserve funds to build this thing without the voters’ OK.

Last year, the council rejected a proposal to require voter approval to build anything in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve other than trails and trailheads. Councilwoman Virginia Korte called it a transparent effort to block the DDC.

“Being a longtime supporter of this vision,” she said, “I am not interested in creating obstacles. I want to see what this DDC can become.”

Something she likely wouldn’t have a chance to see, given that voters would likely trash this thing if given the chance — regardless of the pretty words used to describe it.

“Remember, this is not a refrigerated box we’re bringing you into. It is not a museum,” Sather said. “It’s a living structure that is very much integrated into the desert and fulfills many principles of biomimicry, where we’re really interfacing with the desert as one.”

Sounds just lovely. But before you interface with the desert as one, you should interface with the voters.

You know, the ones who are paying $1 billion in taxes to preserve this land.