Regional Park attractions?
Town enacts water alert
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An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week
NEWS....................... 8 GPS to install video security cameras at schools’ doors.
COMMUNITY......... 16 Gilbert boy wins conservation art contest.
SPORTS................. 24 High school roundball tourney returns in high fashion. COMMUNITY....................................... 16 BUSINESS.............................................20 SPORTS..................................................24 GETOUT................................................. 25 CLASSIFIEDS.......................................29
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE OF GILBERT) | GilbertSunNews.com
Sunday, June 26, 2022
Lawsuit keeps Gilbert taxpayers’ cost rising BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
T
he five-deck Hearne Plaza Garage in the Heritage District opened in March 2019 but Gilbert’s legal fight over property the Town seized for the project is still ongoing, costing taxpayers nearly $300,000 and climbing. And there are at least two other eminent domain fights the Town may be confronting at taxpayers’ expense. Although the courts sided with the Town
in taking the 755-square-foot triangular piece of land from downtown businessman Marc Barlow, the legal impasse involves the property’s value. Gilbert used the land to build a roundabout at the garage entrance to accommodate emergency vehicles. The Town appraised the land and offered $145,000. Barlow countered with $670,000 – what the parcel was appraised for a few months later. A judge in October 2020 ruled in favor of Barlow’s request to use his appraisal figure, rejecting the Town’s argument that the Aug.
18, 2018, date for the summons used by its appraiser should take precedence over the Dec. 19, 2018, date for the Order of Immediate Possession. The Town challenged the ruling and after the two sides failed at mediation in April, a trial date was scheduled for August 2023. “Clearly, the Town decided it would rather continue to pay attorneys’ fees and appraisal fees to pursue the case rather than settle with the Barlow family,” said Barlow’s attorney
see BARLOW page 12
Gilbert man makes car-cooked meals BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
J
oe Brown mixed water, eggs and oil into a Betty Crocker box cake mix. The Gilbert man then poured the chocolate-flavored batter into a cake pan. But instead of an oven at 350 degrees for half an hour, it went into his Honda Accord, where it baked at about 210 degrees for two hours. “This cake was a 10 out of 10, would definitely recommend,” Brown announced after taking a bite and giving two enthusiastic thumbs up on his TikTok video. Welcome to cooking in the Arizona heat, where Brown has amassed 2.2 million followers eager to see what concoctions the Gilbert native cooks up on his car dashboard. From cracking an egg on the sidewalk back in 2020, the
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see COOK page 15
Among the various dishes Joe Brown of Gilbert has cooked in his Honda are hamburgers. He showed in a video how he placed burgers on the dashboard when the interior temperature registered 186 degrees. They were cooked in two hours, coming out well done which is how he likes them and the buns were extra crispy. He rated them a 10 on a 10-point scale. (TikTok)
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