FREE SUBSCRIPTION
Airing TU grievances / P3
@AhwatukeeFN |
REMEMBER TO VOTE
417-unit apartment complex returns to VPC next Monday BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
T AHWATUKEE.COM
he proposed 417-unit apartment complex on 50th Street near Ray Road appears to be on a fast track for city approval after a positive review by the Phoenix Planning Department and a Planning Commission review already scheduled. Although the Ahwatukee Foothills Village Planning Committee is set to review
INSIDE
This Week Parents of cancerstricken toddler thank God, Armer Foundation.
COMMUNITY ............. 25
BUSINESS ..................... 30 Original Biscuits Restaurant down but not under after fire. COMMUNITY ............................. 25 BUSINESS ..................................... 30 OPINION ..................................... 34 SPORTS ........................................ 37 GETOUT ....................................... 39 CLASSIFIEDS .............................. 47
BESTOF
2021
and vote a recommendation on a rezoning request for the project next Monday, the Planning Commission review was set several weeks ago for 6 p.m. Feb. 2 – which could lead to City Council action later next month. Everest Holdings and Scottsdale multifamily developer P.B. Bell want a 13.95-acre site on 50th Street between E. Thistle Landing Drive and Ray Road rezoned for the sixbuilding complex. They would build it after razing the two-
building Commerce Park office complex, which they said is nearly empty and basically useless in the wake of shifts in the Valley’s office building market. The VPC meeting at 6 p.m. Monday is virtual. While some committee members last month complained that City Council meets in person but still is forcing village plansee
COMPLEX page 19
A look at Ahwatukee’s history from the people who made it BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
M
arty Gibson spent several years of painstaking research writing two books on the history of Ahwatukee. So, he knows what he is talking about when he says, “The history of the Ahwatukee Recreation Center is the history of Ahwatukee.” And that’s why the ARC is beginning a yearlong celebration of its 50th anniversary with a gift to the community in the form of three free discussions over the next three months facilitated by Gibson with some of the people who were instrumental in laying the foundation for the world’s biggest cul de sac. The first of these 90-minute programs, open to the public, will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, at the ARC, 5001 E Cheyenne Drive. see
ARC page 8
At 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, at the Ahwatukee Recreation Center, Ahwatukee historian Marty Gibson, right, will facilitate the first of his three discussions with some of the people who were Ahwatukee’s early “settlers.” Two of those people are Sensei Rick Savagian, left, founder of and head instructor at Mountainside Martial Arts and Pete Meier, former vice president of sales for Pressley Development Co.. Savagian is one of the featured guests at this Saturday’s presentation. Meier, who will be a guest speaker at the second installment, is a Realtor and commander of American Legion Post 64, Ahwatukee’s only formal veterans organization. The series is part of the ARC’s 50th anniversary celebration. (David Minton/AFN Staff Photographer)
WINTER IS HERE, ARE YOU PREPARED:
40 Years
SINCE 1982 • ROC #C39-312643
www.ahwatukee.com
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2023
@AhwatukeeFN
Serving the Central Valley
480-725-7303
Offering A wide variety of service plans, that will SAVE YOU MONEY on your electric bill as well as EXTEND THE LIFE OF YOUR UNIT. UNIT Call for more information or scan the QR Code.
CONTACT US TODAY TO BOOK YOUR DELUXE 20 POINT TUNE UP We are offering
40 OFF
$
TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE WINTER READY! REG. $119