Rides! Music! Weird food! PAGE 30
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week
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Gilbert man in running for county attorney.
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Highland's QB a fast learner.
Sunday, SEPTEMBER 29, 2019
Gilbert land auction falls short of goal BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
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Gilbert dentist offers hope to tongue tied PAGE 18
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and Gilbert wanted to sell to help fund its $85-million public safety training facility didn’t get off the auction block. Town Council recently rejected the sole bid of $6.5 million for 36.6-acres at the northeast corner of Germann and Mustang roads, which went to auction on Sept. 17. “It was way, way too low,” Vice Mayor Eddie Cook said. “The appraised value was over $9 million. And another thing, when the town bought that property, they paid over $14 million. We paid really more than we should have.” Town spokeswoman Jennifer Harrison said staff will continue to monitor the mar-
ket and provide a recommendation on when to re-bid the parcel. “We are going to wait a year and try again,” said Cook, acknowledging that another auction with low bids could force the town’s hand. “We won’t get those funds, so the other question is how long are we going to hold off the public training facility,” Cook said. “It’s a two-year project so we are counting on the sale of the property to help offset the cost of the public training facility.” He said the town does have a fairly healthy contingency fund it can turn to. Construction of the training facility, adjacent to Desert Sky Park, began in May and is expected to be completed in spring 2021. Voters in 2018 approved a $65.3 mil-
lion bond for the project with the remaining $19.6 million to be funded by the town. “But maybe we have to also sharpen our pencils a little bit with our builders and maybe do a possible renegotiation of the construction costs,” Cook said. “I think everything is negotiable at the end of the day.” He said there were three to four developers who attended the pre-bid meeting on the land and he didn’t know why they didn’t submit a bid. Artis U.S. Holdings ll, a Delaware corporation was the only registered bidder. The market value of the land zoned light industrial is $9.4 million, which is good for
see AUCTION page 9
More amenities due at new town park
GSN NEWS STAFF
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Greek Fest a crowd pleaser
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ore goodies are coming to Gilbert’s largest park as the town kicked off construction to finish the first phase of its 272-acre playground at the southwest corner of Queen Creek and Higley roads. Phase 1B construction began last Monday, two days after the grand opening of phase IA featuring amenities like a 4,000-square-foot splash pad, seven slides and a zip-line. Both phases occupy 30-acres on the site in south Gilbert. Phase 1B will include a 7.5-acre fishing lake, an amphitheater, a 10-acre event lawn, 16 pickleball courts, six tennis courts, two basketball courts and six sand volleyball courts. The expected completion date for that project is fall 2020, according to town spokeswoman Jennifer Harrison said. The Town Council, at the Sept. 19 meeting, approved an $18.2 million construction contraction with Haydon Building
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see PARK page 9
Thousands of people turned out last weekend for the grand opening at the new regional park in south Gilbert. More photos on page 6. (Kimberly Carrillo/GSN Staff Photographer)
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