PHOENIX — Scottsdale-based political action committee Taxpayers Against Awful Apartment Zoning Exemptions (TAAAZE) plans to file a lawsuit on Thursday against the state of Arizona and city of Scottsdale over the “Axon bill.”
Senate Bill 1543 was signed by Gov. Katie Hobbs in April after being approved by the House and Senate, allowing taser maker Axon Enterprise Inc. to move forward with building a new headquarters and housing development without voter approval.
In addition to its headquarters, Axon plans to build 1,900 residential units, which a press release from TAAAZE claims is the largest in state history and unneeded as there are 10,000 apartments under construction or approved within 5 miles of the project site.
The bill, which will make local rezoning an administrative action not subject to referendum petitions, is set to go into effect on Friday. When signed, SB1453 also blocked a voter referendum by TAAAZE that received more than 26,000 signatures and originally stalled the project until residents could vote on it in the 2026 election.
“The Axon bill is precisely what we are challenging,” Alexis Danneman, the partner at Perkins Coie representing TAAAZE in the lawsuit, told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Wednesday. “Under our constitution, no one gets their own special bill, and the Axon bill is an illegal, special law designed just for them.”
Danneman also emphasized in the press release that Arizona voters have a right to hold a referenda and vote on legislation that was passed by the city council but that they disagree with.
A statement from Axon spokesperson David Leibowitz called the lawsuit the latest tactic in TAAAZE Chairman Bob Littlefield’s “well-worn playbook” to stall Axon’s progress.
“His wife — a sitting city councilmember — continues to vote on matters directly tied to Axon, raising a stark conflict of interest,” Leibowitz said. “This frivolous case is fueled by dark money, not by the interests of Scottsdale residents. The real losers here are Scottsdale and Arizona with Bob putting 5,550 new quality jobs and hundreds of millions in public revenue at risk.”
Chairman of TAAAZE angry city of Scottsdale didn’t take lead on Axon lawsuit
Axon stopped consulting the city of Scottsdale and broke ties with it in June after the Scottsdale City Council allocated $100,000 in order to get outside legal advice on the possibility of challenging the constitutionality of SB1453.
In addition, Scottsdale Mayor Lisa Borowsky voiced her discontent with the Axon bill.
“I think, overwhelmingly, citizens of Scottsdale are not in favor of more … (high density) apartments,” Borowsky told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show in April. “I would have liked the opportunity to work with Axon to come up with a win-win scenario, and I do believe that was possible. … No one likes have something shoved down their throat, if you will, and that’s how citizens feel.”
However, Littlefield — a former Scottsdale city councilmember — said that he is still disappointed that the Scottsdale City Council wasn’t the one to initiate the lawsuit against the Axon bill.
“There’s lots of things in this bill that the city has more standing on to criticize than we have standing,” Littlefield said. “By not joining the lawsuit, the city government is lessening the chance that we will prevail against Axon. They’re betraying their constituents because they’re refusing to do this.”
Littlefield said that he has not coordinated with the city leaders regarding the lawsuit and the city of Scottsdale told KTAR News 92.3 FM that it could not comment on the lawsuit as it had not seen it yet.
According to Danneman, the next steps are to file the lawsuit as well as a motion for a temporary injunction to try and stop the state law from going into effect.
“We would love to be joined by Scottsdale in standing up for its voters, but we are confident in our ability to do that alone from a legal perspective,” Danneman said.
KTAR News 92.3FM’s Balin Overstolz contributed to this report.
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