HOWARD MYERS

Howard has been a visitor to Arizona since the early 1980s and moved to the valley full time in 1996. He has worked 46 years as a radar systems engineer, the last 17 years in Scottsdale at Frontier Engineering, which eventually became Sensor Technologies and Systems, then was acquired by ICX and eventually acquired by FLIR. He retired from FLIR when they decided to close the Arizona office, but then became a part time employee for TASC a consulting firm to the US Navy, based in Virginia Beach, VA, and also a consultant to two other companies, so he is not quite retired.

He immediately became involved in issues in Scottsdale, demonstrating his commitment to this community and the city of Scottsdale. He first became involved with the Preserve initiative, which was just starting, and eventually served 9 years on the McDowell Sonoran Preserve Commission, the last 2 as chair and about 12 years on the Planning and Promotion subcommittees of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve Commission. He also served 5 years on the Board of Adjustment. In addition to boards and commissions, he has served on numerous citizen committees including the Wireless Ideas team (responsible for the current wireless ordinance), the Desert Foothills Character Area committee (resulted in the character area plan and zoning overlay for the Desert Foothills Character Area), the General Plan citizens’ committee both in 2001 and 2011, and the trails committee. He has also participated in two updates to the city’s Environmentally Sensitive Lands Ordinance (ESLO) that have strengthened it to produce development more sensitive to the environment. He has also been active in the city’s Storm Water Management program including helping to convince the city to establish the Storm Water Management department as a result of identifying some bad development that occurred mostly in the 1990s. All of this activity has produced a wealth of knowledge of the city’s development practices, design policies, and ordinances.

In addition to city activities he is current president of the Desert Property Owners’ Association (a HOA for un-subdivided properties), current president of the Carriage Trails HOA, member of the Friends of the Scenic Drive, Coalition of Pinnacle Peak (COPP), the Greater Pinnacle Peak Association (GPPA), and of course the Coalition of Greater Scottsdale (COGS).

In his spare time he enjoys computers (which are also needed for his work), hiking, particularly in Sedona and in Scottsdale’s huge Preserve, and taking pictures of the beautiful west, particularly the states of Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico. The beauty of the Sonoran Desert, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, Scottsdale’s western and equestrian connections, and the McDowell Mountains has provided a constant inspiration to be involved in preserving what is great about Scottsdale and also an endless source of photographic subjects.

He is married to his wife Carol and has two children and 6 grand children, living in Colorado and New York.