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Wednesday, August 1, 2018
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Homeowner stands between HOA and $6.5 million ADOT payout BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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he Arizona Department of Transportation has agreed to pay the Foothills Reserve homeowners association $6.5 million – more than three times it initially offered – for 13 acres of land it desperately needs to continue construction of the South Mountain Freeway. Only the HOA can’t get its hands on that money – or start proceedings in which 591 homeowners could collect individual damages totaling anywhere from $15 million to $19 million – because one man stands in the way. Now, the HOA has ratcheted up what has become a nasty legal fight by telling
homeowner Dietmar Hanke that if he continues his court battle against ADOT, he’ll be assessed its lawyer’s fees at the rate of $520 an hour plus additional costs that could total thousands of dollars more. “The association has been incredibly patient with your arguments, but at this point your arguments against possession are financially detrimental to the association,” HOA attorney Dale Zeitlin wrote to Hanke in a July 19 letter, warning that the Foothills Reserve Masters Association “is entitled to recover attorneys’ fees, court costs, costs of investigation and other related expenses incurred in connection with, including but not limited to, the Association’s administrative costs and fees.” Further warning Hanke that the HOA
would slap a lien against his home to recover those costs, Zeitlin said, “This letter puts you on notice that if you do not immediately withdraw your appeals, withdraw your cross-claim against the state, and waive all claims with prejudice, except your claim for severance damages to your home, the association has authorized me to seek all remedies against you.” Hanke is not backing down. “It’s absolutely crazy, and I think they have both gone too far in all of this,” Hanke said of the HOA and Zeitlin. “I will not stand for it no matter how much they threaten me.” He sent a letter to the HOA board the day after receiving Zietlin’s warning that said, See
FREEWAY on page 24
Kyrene schools a family affair for new principal BY COTY DOLORES MIRANDA AFN Contributor
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s the new principal at Kyrene de la Estrella, one of the first items Sarah Collins unpacked and pinned on the bulletin board behind her new desk was a fading photograph. The 1985-86 school year photo is a typical class picture, with then-9-year-old Sarah Gentis sitting in the front row of her fellow classmates at Kyrene de las Lomas Elementary, hands folded demurely in her lap. “I think I‘m the first Kyrene principal who was a Kyrene student,” she said proudly, looking at the photo. “I’m a former Kyrene kid working with Kyrene kids and that makes me very happy.” Ahwatukee schools are a family thing for the Collins Family. Husband Phil Collins is a sixth-grade history teacher at Altadena Middle School. Their elder son Tony, 17, is a junior at Mountain Pointe High School. And younger son Brody is in eighth grade at Centennial Middle School. Like their mother, they grew up attending Kyrene schools. And that’s just the tip of their local history in Ahwatukee schools, where classes begin tomorrow, Aug. 2, for Kyrene. Mountain
(Kimberly Carrillo/AFN Staff Photographer)
Estrella Principal Sarah Collins is part of a Kyrene family. Son Tony, left, now a Mountain Pointe junior, attended Lomas and Centennial schools. Younger son Brady is in eighth grade at Centennial and husband Phil is a sixth-grade teacher at Altadena Middle School. Her late mom taught in Kyrene schools, too.
Pointe and Desert Vista high schools open for the 2018-19 school year on Monday. Involvement in Kyrene schools began even before Sarah Collins entered first grade at Lomas in the 1983-84 school year.
“My mom was a teacher at (C.I.) Waggoner who then helped open Lagos, and later, Kyrene de la Sierra,” said Collins. “I grew up helping See
PRINCIPAL on page 10