INSIDE:
COMMUNITY P.22 | AROUND AF P.26 | OPINION P.34 | BUSINESS P.36 | FAITH P.40 | GETOUT P.41 | SPORTS P.44| CLASSIFIED P.48
AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS www.ahwatukee.com
Wednesday, NOVEMBER 1, 2017
TALKING TEEN SUICIDE
@AhwatukeeFN |
@AhwatukeeFN
Much anger, no answers at town hall on water bills
AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
T
here were shocking stories of water bills that drew gasps from the audience. There were anguished pleas on behalf of fixed-income seniors and poor families forced to choose between water and rent. There were angry expressions of frustration. What there weren’t were explanations or solutions Oct. 26 as a standing-roomonly crowd of more than 120 Ahwatukee residents confronted the Phoenix Water Services Department director for three hours over the huge spikes in usage levels and bills that evaporated the following month. If anything, the mystery deepened and the shock intensified over the wave of erratic bills – many for water usage in July – that have thrown household budgets into
.8
P
AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS BOOKS GALORE
. 22
P
DESIGNER DIAPERS
See
WATER BILLS on page 20
(Cheryl Haselhorst/AFN Contributor)
Andrew Hartwick points to an $800 water bill covering a period he said when his Ahwatukee house was empty. He was one of scores of angry water department customers who attended the town hall last week.
True Life prepared to walk if it doesn’t get its way BY JIM WALSH AFN Staff Writer
. 36
P
BACK IN THE HUNT
. 44
P
T
rue Life Companies took a calculated risk – spending $3 million to sell its vision of turning the fallow Ahwatukee Lakes Golf Course into a lucrative residential redevelopment plan. Aiden Barry, True Life senior vice president, testified in Maricopa County Superior Court that he thought he could collect the signatures of 51 percent of property owners to change deed restrictions that require the property to remain a golf course if the company came up with the right concept. But while Barry’s company collected about 2,000 signatures for its controversial Ahwatukee Farms proposal – a preschool,
Rolls Bowls.
urban garden and residential development – it failed to collect the 3,564 signatures required. Now, the fate of True Life’s crapshoot rides on a pending ruling by Superior Court John Hannah, who must decide whether the former course’s terrible condition and the decline in the golf market constitute a “material change’’ that would justify a modification in the deed restrictions. Even if Hannah were to rule in True Life’s favor, the company would still face a stormy Phoenix rezoning hearing on its latest plan, which combines a nine-hole par-3 course with about 275 new homes. Closing arguments are scheduled in Hannah’s north Phoenix courtroom today, Nov. 1. If nothing works out, Barry said, company executives testified that a spinoff company
created for the sole purpose of redeveloping the 101 acres, Ahwatukee Lakes Investors, could simply default on an $8.25 million payment due on June 19, 2018. The arrangement would potentially protect the parent company and others from liability and return the property to former owner Wilson Gee, whose recourse would be foreclosure proceedings. True Life paid Gee $750,000 on June 19, 2015 and had $500,000 payments due on a promissory note on the same date in 2016 and 2017, according to the testimony. But with costs soaring and no true progress being made toward selling off lots or possibly building houses itself, True Life sought and
Rolls Bowls.
B i l t m o r e . Tu r n i n g s i g n i f i c a n t a s s e t s i n t o s i g n i f i c a n t c a s h .
B i l t m o r e . Tu r n i n g s i g n i f i c a n t a s s e t s i n t o s i g n i f i c a n t c a s h .
W E B U Y O R L O A N O N A N Y T H I N G YO U O W N . Biltmore. WE BUY OR LOAN Turning significant assets into significantSCOT cash. T S DA L E : 4 8 0 -991- 5 6 2ON 6 W W W. B I LT M O R E LYOU OAN. CO M CHAND LER: 480- 705- 5626 ANYTHING OWN.
480.991.LOAN • 10830 N. SCOTTSDALE ROAD, SCOTTSDALE AZ W E B U Y O R L O A N O N A N Y T H I N G YO U O W N .
480.705.LOAN • 670 N. 54TH STREET, CHANDLER, AZ
See
LAKES on page 18