BUCKEYE YOUTH PASTOR CHARGED WITH VOYEURISM, PAGE 3
westvalleyview.com — the newspaper of Avondale, Buckeye, Goodyear, Litchfield Park & Tolleson, AZ 50¢ Wednesday, August 10, 2016 (623) 535-8439
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Litchfield to develop city center
WE WILL NEVER FORGET
Council negotiating to sign developer for downtown site by Glenn Gullickson staff writer
TIME FOR ME TO FLY Rescued owls released in Buckeye. See photos on Page 24.
SUPPORTING THOSE IN BLUE Turning Leaf Church blesses law enforcement officers. See photos on Page 26.
About 20 vacant acres in downtown Litchfield Park have the potential to become “the heart of the community,” according to consultants the City Council hopes to sign to plan and develop a city center project. “We’re now just in the starting blocks,” City Manager Darryl Crossman said of the project at the City Council’s Aug. 3 meeting. The development involves creating a shopping, dining and entertainment destination on the acreage northeast of Litchfield Road and Wigwam Boulevard next to Litchfield Park City Hall and close to the Wigwam resort. Vice Mayor Paul Faith said Litchfield Park residents want something done with what he called “that dirt downtown.” “That property is prime property,” he said. The council accepted the recommendation of a working group to negotiate a contract with Carl A. Worthington and Associates of Boulder, Colo., and Civic Partners of Huntington Beach, Calif., for the planning and development of the proposed city center. They were among eight teams of developers that expressed interest in the project earlier this year, and one of two finalists that were interviewed by the working group in July. “I think they understand what Litchfield Park is looking for,” Crossman said. Which is a project that will enhance the city center as well as the nearby resort, city officials said. Litchfield Park, home to about 5,500 people on three square miles, is well known for the Wigwam, but according to the Civic Partners’
View photo by Ray Thomas
THE VENERABLE PHA DEBBUDDHIVIDES, president of the Council of Thai Bhikkhus in the U.S., speaks during a remembrance ceremony Aug. 6 of the six monks, one novice monk, a Buddhist nun and a lay person who were murdered 25 years ago at the Wat Promkunaram Buddhist Temple in Waddell. The worst mass murder in Arizona history, which came to be known as the “Temple Murders,” made international headlines. To see all photos from this shoot, go to www.westvalleyview.com/pictures.
(See City Center on Page 4)
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Sale of W.V. Trotting Park in escrow Questions surround future of iconic grandstand abandoned for 50 years
Volume 31, No. 18 32 Pages 1 Section Circulation: 73,775
by Glenn Gullickson staff writer
INDEX Classifieds .................... 27 Editorials & Letters .......... 6 Obituaries ...................... 25 Society ........................... 24 Military ............................. 9 Sports ........................... 17 Briefcase ......................... 9 9 Days a Week............... 22 Recycle this paper View photo by Jordan Christopher
THE ABANDONED Phoenix Trotting Park can be seen behind a chain link fence July 28 in Goodyear.
A deal to sell the Phoenix Trotting Park in Goodyear is expected to close by the end of the year, potentially opening a new chapter in the history of the West Valley landmark — a grandstand structure that has sat abandoned for 50 years off Interstate 10 near Loop 303. The 194-acre site offered for sale in December is in escrow, according to John Finnegan, the property’s listing agent and senior vice president with Collier’s International in Phoenix. Finnegan said he was not at liberty to identify the buyer or reveal the purchase price, information that would become public record (See Trotting Park on Page 5)