Voters Reject Growth Measures and Grand Canyon Development; Approve $330-Mil Stadium

PHOENIX-In what was one of the biggest election days in Arizona in recent history, voters rejected two growth-limiting measures, and may have narrowly agreed to build a new $330-million football stadium for the Arizona Cardinals. Also, voters in northern Arizona rejected a proposal that would have allowed development of a mixed-use development near the Grand Canyon.

Proposition 202, which seemed headed for a sure victory just three months ago, overwhelmingly lost on Tuesday, with 70% of voters statewide rejecting it.

The measure would have set growth boundaries around virtually every city in the state, based on 10-year growth projections. It would have also put in place a two-year moratorium on construction while the boundaries were drawn. Opponents estimated that it would have cost at least 200,000 jobs in the first two years, most of them in the construction industry.

“Obviously Proposition 202 is not the solution to our growth concerns in Arizona,” says Spencer Kamps, spokesperson for Arizonans for Responsible Planning, which led the opposition.

Because the measure would have been the first proposal in the United States to set growth boundaries throughout an entire state, it captured the attention and financial support of developers and home builders across the nation, worried that it would set a dangerous precedent. Opponents of the measure spent more than $4 million in a media campaign that effectively turned around public opinion on the issue, which polls had indicated was favored by a majority just weeks ago.

A competing growth plan initiated by Gov. Jane Hull also went down in defeat. Proposition 100 lost in a close vote, 52% to 48%. The measure won in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, but lost in Pima County, home to Tucson, and in many other rural counties.

Proposition 100 would have allowed up to 3% of state trust land to be set aside annually to be protected from development.

The Arizona Cardinals’ win over the Washington Redskins on Sunday may have made the different in Proposition 302′s success. The measure, which garnered at last count 51% of the votes, would allow a new $330-million stadium to be built for the team. The measure appears to have passed, but the absentee ballots have not been counted.

The Proposition would raise $1.8 billion over 30 years, funds that will go toward a new stadium, expanded tourism budget, Cactus League expansion and youth sports programs. The funds would come from higher sales taxes on rental cars and hotel rooms, and about $95 million from the team itself and proceeds from the Fiesta Bowl. Now, backers of the proposal, if finally approved by voters, will have to decide where to build the stadium, with competing sites in the East and West Valley and on an Indian reservation.

In Coconino County, in northern Arizona, voters soundly rejected Proposition 400, which would have allowed rezoning for Canyon Forest Village, a mixed-use development near the Grand Canyon’s south rim. The $330-million development would have included a 900-room hotel, 240,000 sf of commercial space and 2,500 multi-family homes. The project was backed by the National Park Service, just about every environmental group and nearby Indian nations, while business leaders in the nearby cities of Flagstaff and Tusayan fought hard to squash the initiative.