[Source: Kate Nolan, Arizona Republic] -- A planned historic overlay for part of Taliesin West reached final stages with its recent approval by the Scottsdale Historic Preservation Commission. Now Taliesin's owner, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, is turning to another zoning project. The foundation is seeking special campus zoning for the 500-acre campus Wright started in the 1930s.The designation would better protect the legacy of Wright's work on the site and allow the foundation both more certainty and flexibility in planning, said John Berry, an attorney for the foundation. "Taliesin's current zoning allows for less than one house per acre on the property. A special campus district would not allow that to occur," said Berry, noting that the real estate surrounding the campus has been developed as housing, except for the McDowell Mountains.
Berry helped draft the special zoning ordinance, which is modeled on the Taliesin and Mayo Clinic campuses. The expense of the rezoning process kept the Wright foundation from pursuing it in the past, foundation executive Beverly Hart said. Recent donations of professional services and funds have made the current effort possible, Hart said. The process will move to the Scottsdale Planning Commission when the foundation completes a development plan. [Photo source: Ron Williams.]
