Axon CEO: Company Exploring HQ Options Outside Scottsdale Amid Zoning Fight

Article originally posted on AZ Central on February 29, 2024

Axon CEO Rick Smith took aim at Scottsdale during the company’s fourth quarter earnings call on Feb. 27, calling out an “antidevelopment” sentiment in the city and mentioning a possibility to move the company to another market.

Axon, the maker of Taser stun guns, and Scottsdale have been in a contentious zoning case over land adjacent to Axon’s proposed headquarters. While the headquarters building has already been approved and could go forward with development, Axon submitted a zoning request to add nearly 2,000 apartment units and a hotel on property it owns just to the west of the headquarters site.

The move already got a recommendation of denial from the city’s Airport Advisory Commission and was continued indefinitely at the city’s Planning Commission. Residents from the nearby neighborhoods have organized an opposition to the project, which was proposed on a site that explicitly prohibited residential development.

Scottsdale is investigating a claim made by one of the members of the Planning Commission, who said someone claiming to be an Axon executive called his workplace, seemingly in an effort to intimidate him. Axon officials denied the allegation. Members of city boards and commissions are volunteers.

Smith said he wants the company to remain in Scottsdale and that he loves Scottsdale.

When asked by an analyst on the call when he expected to make the decision, Smith said he expects to know sometime over the summer.

“However, it is not clear that Scottsdale wants Axon, as we are seeing the political environment becoming more challenging and frankly, antidevelopment,” Smith said. “It’s unclear whether we will get the approvals we need to execute our project, so we are exploring several geographies and other options and as a result it may take some time before we have a definitive decision on our next steps.”

The sentiment is similar to what Smith told the Scottsdale Planning Commission in January, when he said having nearby housing was crucial for Axon’s growth and recruitment.

“If we don’t do it here, we will continue to grow, we’ll just grow in Seattle, Atlanta and other jurisdictions because that’s where people want to move,” Smith said at the commission meeting in January.

No new date has been set for Axon to go back before the Planning Commission, which is an advisory body to the City Council. The commission makes a recommendation to the council, but the council will have final say as to whether a zoning change to allow the development is granted.