Key Points:

• State Supreme Court ruling allows residents to block locally approved projects at ballot box

• Residents have absolute right to propose laws, even if elected officials have already decided on a plan

• The decision stems from the renovation of the roads in Page, Arizona

A small town fight over a plan to overhaul a downtown area in the Arizona Supreme Court has led to a new ruling making it easier for residents across the state to block locally approved projects at the ballot box.

The ruling, issued last week, says residents of Arizona cities, towns and counties have the absolute right to propose their own laws — even if elected officials have already decided on a redevelopment plan and started to implement it.

The decision could lead to local governments across Arizona having their decisions on roadway widenings, redesigns and other projects vetoed by voters at the ballot box.

In this case, some residents in the small northern Arizona city of Page organized to oppose a plan from the city council to remake a 1.4 mile section of downtown to boost business activity.

The downtown Page Streetscape Project involved removing two of the four travel lanes on Lake Powell Boulevard through the city’s business district, adding parking and wider sidewalks as a place to draw tourists and locals for dining and events. A center turn lane would remain.

The city rejected a ballot measure proposed by local citizens that would block the road widening, saying it was administrative and not subject to the initiative process in the Arizona Constitution.

A trial court judge and the Arizona Court of Appeals — in an opinion written by Justice Maria Elena Cruz before she joined the high court in January — sided with the city.

But the state Supreme Court overturned those rulings, saying that the initiative was legislative in nature and that the power of citizens to propose their own laws applied. Cruz recused herself and did not participate in the new decision.

“The foundational principle that informs this case is that the people’s power to make laws is co-equal to their elected representatives’ authority to create legislation,” Justice Clint Bolick wrote for the unanimous Supreme Court.

He said the initiative was legislative and backers had the right to propose it.

“The Initiative expressly creates public policy — preserving Lake Powell Boulevard as it existed on October 1, 2023; and the means of accomplishing that policy — preventing the use of public funds to narrow the specified portion of the road,” Bolick wrote for the unanimous Supreme Court. “The fact that this reflects a change in public policy does not alter its legislative character.“

The high court ordered the initiative put before voters, but did not set an election date.

The decision concerns Nancy Davidson, general counsel for the League of Arizona Cities and Towns. She said that, at any given time, there are hundreds of roadway projects underway across the state, many of them involving multiple cities and requiring coordination between planners, traffic analysts, utilities, contractors and more.

She said the court decision classifying the decisions as legislative rather than administrative makes them vulnerable to challenges.

“Are we opening it up, and I think we are, where we’re allowing street projects to be basically second guessed by the electorate every single time?” Davidson said. “It could just really wreak havoc on any type of infrastructure planning, especially now that we’re going through so much growth.”

The plan was developed over nearly eight years, and little opposition developed until a new group emerged after the Council had approved the project, said Bill Diak, who served as mayor for 14 years before deciding not to seek reelection last year.

It was prompted in large part by the 2019 shutdown of the coal-fired Navajo Generating Station near Page and the Kayenta Mine that supplied it with coal, said Diak, an 80-year-old retired power plant employee.

More than 500 high-paying jobs at the power plant alone were eliminated.

The loss of the major regional employers led the council to refocus on tourism and kickstarted the Streetscape project, Diak said. The city was awarded a $5 million federal grant last year to pay for the makeover and set aside more than $5 million in city funds as well.

“You know, we used to have an industrial environment, high paying jobs and fully pensioned,” Diak said. “We had a coal mine and a power plant. In 2019, all of that changed. We lost all of those high paying jobs and everything, and we switched over to where our economy is now, tourism.”

Since then, the small town political fight led to major changes in the council’s makeup, hard feelings on both sides, and fears by Diak that the damage would be felt for years.

Debra Roundtree, who with her veterinarian husband ran an animal hospital in town and organized the Page Action Committee to fight the streetscape project, agreed that hard feelings prevail from the battle she led. She remains angry about what she believes were lies and deceit by the council and backers of the plan. And she said she’s been harassed and intimidated.

“I’ve had my home security challenged. I can’t tell you the level of what individuals did to try to keep the citizens from being allowed to vote,” Roundtree said. “I mean, that’s the funny thing about this, right? Citizens have to vote, and they might vote in favor of it. We don’t know.”

She complained about an anonymous letter that circulated, including among the council, criticizing her. And she said she can’t prove that there were people poised to cash in on the redevelopment plan.

“I have no idea why our past Council believed that reducing Lake Powell Boulevard down to two lanes would cause us to have an economic increase,” she said.

Although she’s opposed to the cost, her main complaint is that the plan would eliminate traffic lanes, saying it could lead to gridlock through town as RVs, pickups hauling boats to the lake and tourist buses try to navigate the tighter street.

Diak, a resident since 1980, says Roundtree has no one but herself to blame and said she is making up unfounded allegations against the council.

“She stirred the pot, and in order to do that, she had to discredit the council,” Diak said. “So wherever she got an opportunity to do that, she did. And then when it came down to the nitty gritty, she backed off of that.”

As with most small town political fights, it’s hard to weigh who is right or wrong.

Diak said the main street makeover is badly needed. He said those tour buses, RVs and boat-hauling trucks speed through town, there’s little parking and few places for the tourists that are now the city’s life blood to congregate and spend money.

An estimated 3 million tourists visit Page each year, drawn by two major natural wonders, the Colorado River’s Horseshoe Bend overlook just outside the town and Antelope Canyon on the nearby Navajo Nation. Horseshoe Bend alone, which the city controls, brings in about $6 million in tourist revenue alone from parking and other fees, Diak said, money the city uses for improvements at the site and promotion.

What is clear is that opponents of the plan now have the power to decide for themselves. That’s because they ran for political office, and, last November, Roundtree and the project opponents won seats on the Page City Council. The council voted last month to end the project, but it could be revived unless the initiative passes.

But the victories come at a cost, Diak believes.

“It’s hard enough to get someone that wants to step up and help their community by running for public office,” he said. “I think that it’s going to make people think twice, ‘Why do I want to get in that arena?’ Because she made the previous council out to be crooks and liars and cheats and stuff.”

“None of that could have been further from the truth,” he said.

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