Scenic Corridor Recommendations
Thank you for visiting. Our mission is to preserve Scottsdale's scenic roads and vistas. We need your support, ideas and opinions. We invite you to participate in the dialogue - no matter where you live!
The recommendations presented below were prepared by the Desert Subcommittee of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve Commission and Great Sonoran. Both organizations are sponsored by the City of Scottsdale and are composed of concerned residents and city staff. Several Friends' volunteers are involved in these organizations. The draft recommendations represents a vision, a collection of ideas, many of them passionately expressed, that will be discussed and refined by the community and city staff in the months ahead. Your ideas will be passed along and can make a difference. So please review this material and express your ideas.
Devastation
Take a tour
Recommendations
Express your ideas
Devastation
Across America rapid growth and development are facts
of life. When development leaps
ahead the ability to apply appropriate
standards, the visible impact on scenic roads can be
devastating.
- Houses, buildings and poles needlessly block scenic vistas.
- Unnecessary signs clutter roadsides.
- Native plants adjacent to the road are needlessly destroyed.
- Poor choices of design and colors accentuate buildings, poles and utility boxes detracting from natural landscape.
- Lights obliterate the starry desert skies.
- Distinctive characteristics are lost, replaced by a "geography of nowhere", where a special "place" becomes like every other place.
Take a tour
Scottsdale like many other cities is growing rapidly. But unlike many cities, Scottsdale is young and much of its unique natural desert setting still remains. Scottsdale has designated certain important roads as "scenic corridors". Because pictures are worth thousands of words, we invite you to take a quick tour and learn how these recommendations will keep our scenic corridors truly "scenic". The tour does not cover all the recommendations but is designed to introduce you to the complete set of recommendations that follow. To take the tour click on the picture to enlarge it and obtain additional information. The tour proceeds from left to right.
Why are the recommendations important?
These recommendations are important because they will result in the updating of current standards, ordinances and procedures that relate to road expansion and development of Scottsdale's scenic corridors. These very accessible scenic roads are important because
Scenic Corridors
- Already exist. A relatively modest investment will be required to implement the scenic corridor recommendations that are needed to preserve them.
- Encourage tourism. More than 1/2 of Scottsdale's revenues are generated from tourism. A 1994 survey of why tourists visit Scottsdale showed that the number one reason they come is to enjoy the desert views, mountains, open space and warmth. A scenic drive delivers what tourists want.
- Enhance travel. It much more pleasant for residents, commuters and visitors to travel on a scenic road than one that is mundane and ordinary.
- Represent a unique heritage. Desert beauty brought most of us to Scottsdale. Landmarks such as the Desert Foothills Scenic Drive, created in 1963, are part of our desert heritage.
- Add value to Scottsdale, surrounding communities and neighborhoods.
Scenic Corridor Recommendations
These recommendations were prepared by the Desert Subcommittee of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve Commission and Great Sonoran and approved by those bodies on September 15, 1998. The McDowell Sonoran Preserve Commission approved the recommendations on October 8, 1998. The photographs, taken along various scenic corridors, were added by Friends of the Scenic Drive.
The draft is divided into the following parts:
Introduction. Describes the purpose of Scenic Corridors, the origins of the recommendations and the status of the recommendations.
Right-of-Way Issues. Summarizes current policies and recommended modification of those policies in regard to right-of-ways along scenic corridors.
Landscape Setback Issues. Summarizes current policies and recommended modifications of those policies in regard to setbacks along scenic corridors.
Adjacent Development Issues. Summarizes current policies and recommended modifications of those policies in regard to residential and commercial development next to scenic corridors.
General Issues. Summarizes current policies and recommended modifications of those policies in regard to items not covered by the above categories.
Express Your Ideas
What do you think? Is there something that's done in your town or city that we should include in the recommendations? Are there particular recommendations that you like or dislike? Here is how you can reach us. Click on our email address below and you will be presented with a simple message form that you can complete and send.
