A lot has changed in the two decades that Dave Roderique promoted economic development in Scottsdale.

His 22 years with the city, which ended last week, coincided with Scottsdale's most dynamic years of growth, northern expansion and downtown redevelopment.

But some things don't change.

A year into Roderique's tenure, the Scottsdale City Council considered but rejected a downtown building moratorium. That came after citizens were enraged by the height of a 100-foot bank building at Scottsdale and Camelback roads.

Similar height and density battles downtown still are being waged as Roderique makes his way to a new job in downtown Phoenix.

On March 10, Roderique will take over as chief executive of the Downtown Phoenix Partnership Inc.

Scottsdale zoning attorney John Berry said Roderique was an important part of Scottsdale's growth and elevating its stature nationally and internationally.

"He understood that the proper role of government was to act as a catalyst of quality development," Berry said.

As far back as 1987, Roderique was quoted as saying that Scottsdale "can afford to be choosy."

That is even truer today, Berry said.

He praised Roderique's efforts to revitalize downtown, attract the Mayo Clinic to Scottsdale and retain the Dial headquarters.

City Manager Jan Dolan said Roderique's departure is a huge loss to the city.

"But, in some ways, it was not unexpected," Dolan said. "When you've achieved what he has, it gets noticed."

In his new job, Roderique said he will focus on filling in the gaps of downtown Phoenix, which already has major employment, sports and cultural components in place.

"You need the smaller-scale projects that will add to the vibrancy of downtown," he said.

Scottsdale and Phoenix often battle for economic-development plums, spending taxpayer money as incentives in the process.

But Roderique said he expects there to be little competition with his former colleagues in Scottsdale's Economic Vitality Office. "They are two different markets," he said of each city's downtown. "There are a lot of complementary activities, and the success of one will benefit the other."

Roderique is joining the Downtown Phoenix Partnership as the area opens a new convention center and a convention hotel.

Phoenix also is adding light-rail transit and developing hundreds of new condominiums.

Roderique, who moved within Scottsdale last year, said he will continue to live in Scottsdale. Any move to downtown Phoenix would have to wait until his children are off to college, he said.

Scottsdale is just starting to explore its options for replacing Roderique, who was paid $152,000 as general manager of the Economic Vitality Office.

Dolan, the city manager, said the department is in good shape with the well-trained staff that Roderique had in place.

It is too early to say if the job will be filled internally or whether an outside search consultant will be used to find a replacement, Dolan said.

Author: Peter Corbett
Source: The Arizona Republic