Why Is Fountain Hills Rushing Into High Density Urban Housing?

Fountain Hills is known for idyllic mountain views, open spaces, and desert washes. Recently the Town Council quickly approved on a 4 to 3 vote, high density urban apartments. This high rise apartment building will be taller, denser, and with less parking than current town zoning allows. This project was denied by the Planning and Zoning Committee in December, but in January the council approved it without concession nor compromise. Questions were brought up if Council members had met with or received campaign cash from the developers. Questions that remain unanswered.

A couple weeks later, over 1800 residents signed a petition to put this decision on the election ballot. That is when ReferendumGate began. The town has rejected the petitions, citing a mistake on the petition itself. The organizers claim they used the petition given to them by the town clerk. The town stated to the local newspaper that a flash drive was presented the organizers of the petition. The organizers say they never received a flash drive. The organizers were forced to sue the town in Superior Court and the case is ongoing.

The question remains, why are establishment politicians and bureaucrats so hell bent on high density urban housing?

This screenshot from the Arizona Auditor General report explains why politicians are pushing for lower cost high density housing. School enrollment is dropping and dropping fast. 32% drop in the last 4 years and a staggering 21% drop in the last year. So instead of focusing on high quality academics, the politicians bend the rules to bring in lower cost high density housing. 

Stay tuned in, I want to talk about developer math and how much money these apartments make for the developers...