If the court does not immediately rule, it could complicate the city's plans for the March 9 election since Scottsdale is facing a Wednesday deadline for printing 116,000 ballots. A citizens group forced the issue to the ballot box after it challenged a city council decision to approve developer Steve Ellman's plans to build a big box shopping center at the Scottsdale and McDowell road site that has been vacant for years. The deal would give Ellman as much as $36.7 million in sales tax rebates, a figure that could grow to as much as $183 million with inflation over the project's 40 years.
In October, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Jonathan Schwartz ruled that the issue could be decided by the voters and denied Ellman a stay of that decision. Ellman later appealed that decision to the higher court.
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