Arizona Coyotes sue Phoenix for trying to ‘sabotage’ Tempe development

TEMPE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) — The drama between Phoenix Sky Harbor and the Tempe Entertainment District has grown $2.3 billion dollars bigger. This is due to the Arizona Coyotes and Bluebird Development suing the city of Phoenix for what they claim is “sabotage” and “reneging on its public promise not to oppose” after Sky Harbor filed its lawsuit March 27.

The lawsuit, obtained by Arizona’s Family, says during a Nov. 29, 2022 meeting with the Tempe City Council, Sky Harbor’s airport director made a statement the council interpreted as a “green light to proceed.” The suit also says the city’s interpretation was confirmed after the airport posted a statement to its website a few days after the meeting. The suit highlights a sentence in the second paragraph that says, “Negotiations wrapped up successfully with the developer prior to the Tempe City Council vote.”

When asked for comment, Phoenix Sky Harbor says Bluebird Development’s anger is “misdirected.”

They should be frustrated with Tempe. After a meeting with the mayors of both Tempe and Phoenix and two negotiations between the city managers of Tempe and Phoenix, we understood that Tempe was open to a reasonable compromise that would protect the airport, the communities around the airport, and allow these developments to proceed. That compromise was, at Tempe’s request, reduced to a simple document ... That document was sent to Tempe on February 7, 2023, as our Complaint makes clear. We expected to promptly hear input or agreement on that amended [intergovernmental agreement]. Instead, after over a month of delay, Tempe abruptly ended discussions with its March 17 letters, and the City of Phoenix was forced to sue. A clear and reasonable resolution was in Tempe’s hands and they elected to reject it. We join the [Tempe Entertainment District] developer in their frustration.
Phoenix Sky Harbor spokesperson

The $2.3 billion claim amount in the lawsuit is the same estimated cost to develop and construct the land, which is currently a landfill, into an entertainment area. The development is intended to be the NHL team’s future home as well as dining, other entertainment, residential, and shopping opportunities. The fight is over the proposed residential area of the construction, a 1.2 square mile area less than two miles from the airport runway. Officials claim the area is exposed to high noise levels from airplanes and unsuitable for housing. Lawyers cited a formal agreement between the two cities in 1994, where Tempe said no homes would be built under the flight path.

Phoenix Sky Harbor tells us the noise from the airport and the planes is their biggest concern for the area, but Tempe says they’ve added stipulations to ensure people who decide to live and work in the area understand that and know if they try to sue the airport, they will lose. Tempe voters will decide the fate of the proposed project through a special election in May.