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AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS Wednesday, October 26, 2016
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ADOT agreement could provide water security for Ahwatukee golf courses
AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS COVER STORY
BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN EXECUTIVE EDITOR
A TUKEE TREAT
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he Arizona Department of Transportation and three homeowners associations have reached an agreement that could provide added security for the future of Ahwatukee’s three remaining golf courses: An infrastructure for cheap water. The agreement eliminates the problem
that the South Mountain Freeway had posed to wells feeding The Foothills and Lakewood golf course communities. And it lays out a partial plan to replace Club West Golf Course’s expensive potable city water with well water. Now, the biggest hurdle is locating a source for Club West’s water. The agreement was brokered by state Representatives Jill Norgaard and Bob Robson, Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio, and State Senate hopeful Frank Schmuck. They persuaded ADOT to
listen to proposals from Chad Blostone, Ahwatukee Village Foothills Planning Committee Chairman, for resolving the water problem and other issues the proposed freeway would create for nearby communities. Many of those other issues remain unresolved. Members of the Club West and Foothills HOA boards were joined Friday by DiCiccio and Norgaard at a press conference outlining the deal. An ADOT spokesman declined
INTERIM AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS LEADER P
Businesswoman named temporary Chamber chief.
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COMMUNITY
THEY’RE BAAACK Is your home vulnerable to hungry termites?
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SPORTS
WINNING WAYS
Both Pride, Thunder win again.
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See
WATER on page 16
Ironwood Library marks 25 years of serving Ahwatukee readers BY COTY DOLORES MIRANDA AFN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
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hwatukee’s first cultural institution is having a birthday. Twenty-five years ago today, the long-awaited Ironwood Public Library opened its doors to a crowd of excited Ahwatukee residents. On the morning of Oct. 26, 1991, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was led by head branch-manager Lupita Barron-Rios, the first of Ironwood’s seven chiefs, and thenMayor Paul Johnson. Less than a decade after Ahwatukee was annexed to Phoenix and became the most southern of the city’s 15 urban villages, the 35-square-mile community had its own library branch. It replaced the Maricopa County Bookmobile that had been serving local residents and became the Phoenix Public See
LIBRARY on page 14
Music, Maestro!
(Cheryl Haselhorst/AFN Staff Photographer)
The 24-student Desert Vista High School Chamber Orchestra was treated to a visit from Phoenix Symphony Music Director Tito Munoz, who directed their early-morning class last Thursday. Playing under Munoz’s direction are, from left, violinists Jeremy Chao, Alexis Kim and Sean Hsu. students called Munoz’s visit “awesome.” And he called their playing just as impressive. See pages 22 and 38.