Goat Yoga on network TV
Staffing firm marks 20
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An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week ELECTION
2022 NEWS................................ 8 Town Council candidates address more issues
COMMUNITY......... 16 Gilbert parents’ anguish over son’s ordeal.
SPORTS...................... 26 High school football enters new phase.
COMMUNITY....................................... 16
BUSINESS............................................. 22 SPORTS..................................................26
GETOUT.................................................28 CLASSIFIEDS.......................................32
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE OF GILBERT) | GilbertSunNews.com
Sunday, June 5, 2022
Historic Gilbert home giving way to 10 houses BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
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ne of Gilbert’s oldest homes on farmland that once housed peacocks will give way to 10 single-family houses at the northwest corner of Lindsay and Elliot roads. Porchlight Homes will build the “high-quality subdivision” on 3.63 acres, a mile east from the Heritage District, despite opposition from neighbors at the June 1 Gilbert Planning Commission meeting. They raised concerns with more traffic, construction disturbances and losing some of the town’s rural character. “That’s part of Arizona’s history,” said Clarence Threatt. “I’m from Oklahoma (where) we have property that is on the National His-
toric Register that is being restored. “You’re taking that building away. No one will ever know that there was a historic site there. Plus, that farm used to provide peacocks and everyone use to come to that neighborhood to see what that farm was providing people.” Threatt was one of eight residents, mostly from Stonebridge Lakes Estates, who spoke out against the project. Access to the proposed site is through the Stonebridge neighborhood. Stacy Riddell said extending Silverado Street, which currently dead-ends at the site location, will bring more traffic into the area. Her house is located right where the road stops. “There is the concern of safety of my kids,
my grandkids and the other kids on that street,” Riddell said. Riddell, who works from home full-time, also said that the construction of the homes will bring dust, noise and drive pests such as scorpions and rats into her neighborhood. “I grew up in the countryside,” she said. “I bought my home because I got a little bit of that country while I was still in the Town of Gilbert. I saw the animals, I fed the goats, I fed the horses. My kids enjoyed that, my grandkids enjoy it today and now we are going to lose that dead-end street.” Rob Guderian, a 21-year resident at Stonebridge, said although access to the parcel will be on public roads, it will go through Stone-
2 EV child drownings prompt Safe from war pool safety warnings GSN NEWS STAFF
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ast week’s death of a 2-year-old girl found in a Chandler home pool marked the second child drowning in the East Valley so far for this year. The other drowning occurred in Gilbert on May 21 when a 2-year-old child was pulled from a pool in the area of Greenfield and Elliot roads, according to Gilbert Fire and Rescue. “After life-saving efforts aided by police and a neighbor, the child was pronounced
deceased,” said department spokeswoman Jennifer Synder in an email, withholding any further information. June, July, and August are peak times for child drownings in Arizona. Six children, not including the Chandler girl, have drowned in Maricopa County from Jan. 1 to May 23, according to the latest data reported by Valley fire departments on the Children’s Safety Zone website. All the children were under the age of 5.
see DROWNINGS page 3
see PORCHLIGHT page 6
Lyuda Hoagland, right, is more than delighted that her mother, Valentina Lisniak, and father, Vasyl Lisniak, are now in Gilbert with her, far away from war-torn Ukraine, from which they recently escaped. Read about their escape from war on page 4. (David Minton/Staff Photographer)