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AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS www.ahwatukee.com
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
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ADOT backs off funding Troubled heart water line beneath freeway AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS
NEWS
CAPTURING TEENS
BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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opes that the South Mountain Freeway project might lead to a permanent solution to waterrelated concerns involving two Ahwatukee golf courses are now mired in uncertainty. The Arizona Department of Transportation has told the Foothills Community Association’s lawyer that the state constitution prevents ADOT from building a concrete sleeve beneath the freeway that would house a water line. That line, running from the south side of Pecos Road, would ultimately bring water to Club West and the Foothills golf courses. Ahwatukee Village Planning Committee Chairman Chad Blostone said he hopes the determination marks only a “temporary setback” in efforts to secure a key concession from ADOT. That was among a
variety of issues that had been discussed in October by him, state Rep. Jill Norgaard and city Councilman Sal DiCiccio. Back in October when a tentative deal was announced during a press conference, DiCiccio said, “It is literally a home run for Lakewood and Foothills, and about a 90 percent home run for Club West. The bottom line is that the infrastructure problem is resolved for Club West ... Now, it will come down to finding the water.” In a Feb. 8 letter to the Foothills HOA lawyer, ADOT called the infrastructure work “an inappropriate and unconstitutional use of state funds” under the Arizona Constitution’s gift clause. The contractor building the freeway needs some kind of water line to control dust and tamp down massive amounts of fill that will be used in the
AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS WHEELS APLENTY Thousands expected at Transportation Day
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AVAILABLE NOW! Spring Training Guide
See
WATER LINE on page 13
(Special to AFN)
Tiny June Roger, right, of Ahwatukee, differs in one significant way from her twin sister Nora. The 3-month-old infant suffers from a heart ailment that could kill her. She has already had one open-heart surgery and faces at least two more. For a look at her parents’ struggle to keep June alive, see p. 24.
Planners call golf course preservation critical to Ahwatukee’s ‘character’ SPECIAL REPORT BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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hwatukee’s golf courses and other open spaces would get additional protection under proposed changes
to one of the city’s major guides for future development. The protections are among proposed revisions that city officials and the Ahwatukee Foothills Village Planning Committee have discussed for the Village Character Plan. That document is part of Phoenix’s General Plan, which often guides future
development decisions as well as zoning changes by providing the vision and policies for future growth. Phoenix Principal Planner Joshua Bednarek said the character plan for Ahwatukee and the city’s other villages “carves out a space
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CHARACTER on page 8
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