The Axon live-work-play complex plan is headed to the ballot.

After a city and county review process, City Clerk Ben Lane notified a group challenging Axon’s City Council-approved plan it had enough signatures to put Axon’s apartment plan to voters.

Earlier in the week, County Recorder Justin Heap completed an audit of signatures submitted by the group Taxpayers Against Awful Apartment Exemptions (TAAAZE).

In December, former Councilman Bob Littlefield, who chairs the TAAAZE PAC, delivered boxes containing 26,000 signatures supporting the group’s petition. TAAZE wants Axon’s City Council-approved rezoning – which allows for 1,800 apartments/condos and a hotel – go to voters.

After a city review, City Clerk Ben Lane sent a portion to the county for an audit.

In a letter to Littlefield, Heap said he reviewed 1,184 signatures “which have been randomly selected” for verification.

Of those, 212 signatures were disqualified.

But “972 signers included in the random sample were found to be qualified electors at the time of signing the petition, and therefore their signatures were not disqualified,” Heap said.

As Littlefield sees it, “The county completed their random sample of our petitions and found they had a validity rate of 82% which means that we have way more than the minimum required 15,353 signatures to force an election on the Axon apartment proposal.”

In a Jan. 28 email to City Council, Lane said, “I now have 48 hours to make a determination on whether the petition qualifies for inclusion on the November 2026 ballot.”

Two days later, he informed TAAAZE the total number of valid signatures on the group’s referendum petition “is equal to or in excess of the minimum required by the Arizona Constitution to place the measure on the November 2026 General Election ballot.”

“We made it!”

Lane noted City Council “also has the option to call a special election for an earlier date.”

Axon founder Rick Smith, a Chaparral High graduate who launched his Taser-making company in his hometown, has alleged Littlefield’s signature drive was backed by a California union.

And, Smith warned, if he has to wait for a 2026 election, he will move to one of the other cities courting Axon, which has annual sales over $1.5 billion. Asked for a comment on the referendum news, Axon spokesman David Leibowitz said, “We continue to consider all our options regarding the referendum and relocation.

“Again, as Rick Smith has made very clear, waiting until November 2026 to get resolution on the world headquarters is simply not an option for Axon.”

In 2020, Axon purchased 74 acres of state preserved land off Hayden Road and the Loop 101. Last year, Axon announced a new plan with restaurants, shops, nearly 2,000 apartments – later reduced to around 1,800 apartments and condos – and a hotel surrounding the new office.

Axon won unanimous approval from the Planning Commission in the fall.

On Nov. 19, City Council approved the rezoning with a 5-2 vote; Kathy Littlefield (Bob’s wife) and Barry Graham voted against it.