Glendale’s Community Newspaper
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The Glendale
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Vol. 74 No. 44
November 1, 2018
Glen Lakes gets 90-day reprieve By DARRELL JACKSON Staff Writer
After the city manager recommended closing and selling of the city-owned Glen Lakes Golf Course, councilmembers changed course and gave the course a reprieve of 90 days for review and public input on the future of the land. City Manager Kevin Phelps recommended option three, which would have the city sell the land and develop the site as residential, commercial and a neighborhood park. “If we are going to
start fixing our parks, we have to start somewhere,” Phelps said. “This has been a bit of a challenge because, suffice to say, I play 100 rounds of golf a year. Nobody loves the sport more than I do, but part of my struggle with my recommendation and the notion of closing down the golf course does not come easy.” During the Oct. 23 workshop presentation, Assistant City Manager Tom Duensing gave three options for the future of the land located at 5450 W. Northern Ave. The three options were, one,
Photo courtesy city of Glendale
Photo of Glen Lakes Golf Course during the heyday of the course as council seeks a staff review and public input on the future of the site.
continue to operate as a municipal golf course; two, repurpose the site as a regional park, or three, repurpose the site as development and a neighborhood park. “In option three, we would require a component that nine acres be turning into a neighborhood park to serve the community,” Duensing said. “If we do that, we estimate revenue from the sale of the property from $4 to $4.8 million.” Add that to the $429,000 that has been allocated a More GLeN LAKeS oN 2
Review leads to justifying sale of St. Vincent de Paul building Salvation Army needs bell ringers By DARRELL JACKSON Staff Writer
A council workshop presentation aimed at updating councilmembers on city-owned property and assets quickly turned into a justification for the recent sale of the former St. Vincent de Paul building. The original presentation was to show councilmembers all the available properties the city owns and which were available for sale. Nearly 10 years after purchasing the old St. Vincent de Paul building at 7018 N. 57th Ave., and more than four years of being empty, the city approved the sale of the structure Oct. 8 to C+D LLC for $25,000 with the caveat that the new owner pay nearly $500,000 for any and all improvements to the building.
It’s a familiar sound during the holiday season. What many people may not realize is that without volunteers, The Salvation Army Glendale must pay bell ringers, who are not volunteers, $10.50 an hour. That is money that could be going into the bank to help pay for services provided by The Salvation Army to local families in need. So, the call is going out to individuals, service clubs, churches and the business community to answer with a resounding, “Yes, we’ll do it!” Volunteers who want to help
should be willing to work either a four-hour shift or an eight-hour shift any day of the week at any of the 16 locations in the Glendale area that have offered space for bell ringers. The bell ringing begins Nov. 16 and ends Dec. 24. The Salvation Army Glendale Major Clem Leslie said his chapter has been asked to increase its volunteer corps by 50 percent at the 16 Glendale locations. “We’re trying to raise $152,000,” Leslie said. “By helping The Salvation Army, volunteers are helping
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Transparency and sale come into question
During the Oct. 23 workshop, the sale again came to the forefront during discussion of selling city property and the eventual creation of an official council policy for selling city assets. Currently, the council discusses the selling of city assets during executive sessions (which was done on the St. Vincent de Paul sale) and several councilmembers believe staff should list every city-owned property to the public. “I think we could be the most transparent by putting a list of parcels on our website. That way, if there are any offers on the properties listed, then we could go into executive session to discuss how to proceed,” Yucca District Councilmember Joyce Clark said. “I would suggest we get them listed on our city website.” While most councilmembers agreed, they also realized the reasons needed for executive sessions for specific discussions. “There is a role for executive session for sale of property, and I think what is incumbent on council to determine if we are interested in selling property and the way we may do that,” Barrel District Councilmember Bart Turner said. “If we are dealing with a large retailer, we may want to do it in executive session so it is low profile and we don’t start a bidding war with another city for that type of business.”
More ST. VINCeNT De PAUL oN 14
pr ovide for a full year of service. It’s a community effort. Churches can volunteer one Friday or one Saturday. Service clubs, civic clubs, any and everybody … take an employee day.” Anyone who would like to volunteer their own time or company time to keep the bells ringing is asked to call Leslie at 520-310-6249.
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