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CANDIDATES SPEAK
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he immediate future of the Club West Golf Course hangs in the balance this week as a Superior Court judge hears a homeowners group’s plea for a five-month delay on further action toward turning the 55acre site into a park with homes. Judge Daniel Kiley has set aside five hours tomorrow for testimony and argument on a request by the Club West Conservancy for a temporary restraining order to stop the Foothills Club West Community Association board from scheduling a vote this year on the park plan, which is tentatively set to be unveiled Oct. 15. At the same time, the board contends the
Conservancy has no right to a restraining order. Four investors incorporated as The Edge have an agreement with owner Wilson Gee to buy the course for $750,000. After an initial plan to build a shorter 18hole course and 162 homes fell apart in February, three of The Edge investors formed a related entity called Community Land Solutions, which dubbed the site The Park at Club West. It hopes to sell homeowners on a plan for parkland, trails, some other amenities like a dog park – and an unspecified number of homes. It set up an advisory committee to gather homeowners’ ideas for what it should include. Minutes from one of the advisory committee meetings state it “discussed temporary parking, mountain top saguaros with holiday lights,
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water features, pools, retail and restaurants as well as the ‘sense of arrival’ and what that would feel and look like.” There has been no public indication that CLS and The Edge are considering commercial uses on the course. CLS has declared that its goal “is to create a sustainable park that looks natural. Through careful planning the landscape will look as if it evolved naturally rather than a dead golf course that become overgrown or was converted to desert. The preliminary plans also call for at least five miles of walkways and paths.” It also states, “We are in the process of planning for amenities such as pickle ball, public
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Remaining SM Freeway pieces opening Oct.19 BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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PUMPKIN PARTYING
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October could surprise Club West
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Wednesday, September 30, 2020
BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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This is what the westbound exit ramp of the South Mountain Freeway’s 32nd Street looked like a few weeks ago as crews work to meet a tentative Oct. 19 opening date for the long-awaited intersection. (Tom Sanfilippo/Inside Out Aerial)
en months after vehicles were allowed to roll along the South Mountain Freeway, an opening date has been set for the final two pieces of the $1.7-billion project. The Arizona Department of Transportation has set Monday, Oct. 19 for the opening of the 32nd Street Interchange and the 6-mile multiuse path along the freeway’s southern edge. “The date could change if something unexpected - for example, severe weather - happens between now and then,” ADOT spokesman Tom Herrmann said. “For safety reasons the path will remain closed until it officially opens,” he said. “Construction equipment will remain in the area until the work is complete and we want to protect both the general public and construction crews.” Last year the agency had hoped to open the interchange by September “but delays related to COVID-19 have slowed the work,” it said.
see FREEWAY page 19