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.
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