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Wednesday, February 5, 2020
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‘Go slow’ demands mount in Club West BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN New Staff
C
ity Councilman Sal DiCiccio has added his voice to the growing demand by a portion of Club West residents that its HOA board delay for at least a few months any action on the plan to turn over part of their golf course to a home builder. Citing “significant neighborhood opposition” to the Edge Team’s proposal, DiCiccio last week told the board in a letter, “I believe it is in the best interests of everyone involved to take time right now to attempt to address in good faith their very legitimate concerns.” He urged the board to ask the four investors and Taylor Morrison to meet with opponents “and give them time to discuss potential adjustments or alternatives.” “After watching the years-long legal battle that has consumed the Ahwatukee Lakes
community, I very much want to avoid seeing a similar situation – one that pits neighbor against neighbor – develop within Club West’s neighborhoods,” DiCiccio wrote. “Encouraging a healthy dialogue between the proposed developers and the residents of Club West, I firmly believe, will lead to a better outcome for everyone,” he said. The board has tentatively set its meeting this month for a decision on whether to put the Edge Team proposal before homeowners for a vote. The investors have proposed construction of 162 single-story and two-story homes on three sections of the golf course; creating an 18-hole “precision course as well as a driving range and 18-hole putting course; and building a multi-use combination clubhouse/community center. HOA board President Mike Hinz has said that the timeline for a vote is “fluid.”
Local preschool marks 20 years of wheely fun event
“If all the questions are answered and we’re ready to go, we go,” he told AFN two weeks ago. “If the questions aren’t answered and there’s things that need to be addressed, then we’ll probably reconsider the timeline.” Adding that “we’re not pro or con” on the Edge Team’s plan, Hinz said, “we’ll support whatever the community wants to do.” For its part, the Edge Team indicated that it’s not inclined to wait, the investors have also stressed that the decision on a community vote is a matter for the board. Last week, the investors, their zoning attorneys and golf course experts and Taylor Morrison representatives held an open house that drew at least 200 residents. The team handed out a 20-age booklet containing answers to questions it had already fielded from homeowners and the first one on
Kyrene plays away
see WEST page 17
BY COTY DOLORES MIRANDA AFN Contributor
W
hen Reina Scott was a 3-year-old student at God’s Garden Preschool of Ahwatukee, Transportation Day was a new event that she looked forward to attending even after moving on to elementary school. Now a freshman at Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University, Scott still recalls the thrill of climbing aboard the myriad oversized vehicles displayed each Transportation Day. “It was exciting to get on a school bus for the first time, honking the horn on the garbage truck and sitting in the backseat of a police car,” the 2019 Desert Vista
see TRANSPORTATION page 10
Bodie Bonofiglio deftly sends a paper plane aloft at Aprende Middle School in Chandler, where Kyrene School District held its annual district-wide Day of Play. For a look at how other youngsters in the district too advantage of the even. See the photo essay on page 21. (Chris Mortenson/AFN Staff Photographer)