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AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS Wednesday, October 19, 2016
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$188,000-a-day levy hangs over freeway opponents in court fight
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BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN EXECUTIVE EDITOR
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he Arizona Department of Transportation has asked that South Mountain Freeway opponents be required to post a bond of $188,000 for each day their appeal of a judge’s ruling keeps the project on ice. Since appeals can take months, that bond would quickly soar into millions for the Ahwatukee-based Protect Arizona’s Children and Resources and the Gila River Indian Community. The bond request is in a footnote of a 20-page brief that the state Attorney General’s Office filed on ADOT’s behalf with U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa, who shot down a bid by PARC and the Gila Community to stop the project. She must now decide the two groups’ request for an injunction stopping the project until the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals can hear their appeal from her Aug. 19 ruling. ADOT, the Federal Highway Administration, PARC and the Gila Community have been waiting for nearly three weeks for Humetewa to make a decision so the matter can move to the 9th Circuit. Regardless of how she rules on the injunction, both sides have indicated they would appeal that ruling as well. While the lawyer for the Gila Community said tribal leaders have authorized posting of an unspecified sum as a bond, Shanker is arguing for a “public interest exception” to the federal court’s bond requirements. But he conceded that federal courts are
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(Cheryl Haselhorst/AFN Staff Photographer)
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HAVING HER CAKE
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The 6-week-to-walking class enjoys a morning cracker break at Desert Garden Montessori, which would occupy five acres in the proposed Ahwatukee Farms development. Clockwise are, Charlie Narcy, Lulu Navarro, Felipe Kasathsko, Jacolb Cassidy and Ainslee Guerrero.
School seeks Ahwatukee Farms site to grow focus on self-sufficiency, nature COVER STORY BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN EXECUTIVE EDITOR
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t age 3, they’re setting tables and clearing dishes for lunch. At age 8, they’re organizing fund drives after their peers explain to them the plight of children with cancer. At age 11, they’re booking school trips for themselves, lining up hotels, creating an itinerary and working up a budget. These are the children who might become the part-time neighbors of residents in Ahwatukee Lakes Golf Club.
They are students at Desert Garden Montessori School, which would occupy five acres on the 101-acre site of the closed golf course as part of owner True Life Companies’ plan to create Ahwatukee Farms, an “agrihood” of homes, a professionally managed farm, café, farmers market, two lakes and a multi-purpose recreational path. Shetal Walters, founder and director of Desert Garden Montessori, broke her silence last week to discuss the school after weeks of criticism by Lakes residents who See
SCHOOL on page 4
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4425 E. Agave Road, Suite 148 | Phoenix, Arizona 85044
4425 E. Agave Road, Suite 148 | Phoenix, Arizona 85044
See
FREEWAY on page 8