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Lakes course owner must pay $2M penalty, judge rules BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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NEWS .................. 3 Ahwatukee woman leads group for sober-living and “sober-curious”
www.ahwatukee.com
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
@AhwatukeeFN
Superior Court judge ordered the owner of the Ahwatukee Lakes Golf Course to pay a $2 million sanction for failing to meet another judge’s deadline for completing its restoration. In an order filed Monday, Judge Melissa Iyer Julian ruled that ALCR failed to follow Judge Theodore Campagnolo’s December 2020 directions for completing the 18-hole course
and opening it fully by September 2022. That deadline was extended by a month to allow newly planted grass to take better root and golfers have been using the course since then. But Attorney Tim Barnes contended that ALCR had failed to address numerous problems on the site – including an adequate replacement for the clubhouse that was destroyed in a never-solved 2016 arson. Barnes represents Lakes homeowners Linda Swain and Eileen Breslin, who have waged a legal battle since 2014 with ALCR and a related
predecessor over company-principal Wilson Gee’s closure of the course in 2013. Getting relief from the new order could be difficult for ALCR. While ALCR can file a special action with the Arizona Court of Appeals seeking a review of Iyer Julian’s order, the higher court does not have to accept it as it would a conventional appeal. ALCR must also pay Barnes’ fees, but the
see LAKES page 7
Free roofs putting a tiny Politics and chili Ahwatukee HOA on a ledge COMMUNITY ..... 22 Ahwatukee man gives back for his new kidney.
SPORTS ............. 35 The search for Desert Vista’s next head football coach is over. COMMUNITY ............................ 22 BUSINESS ................................ 28 OPINION .................................. 32 SPORTS ................................... 35 GETOUT ................................... 38 CLASSIFIEDS ........................... 42
BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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t was a no-brainer for a homebuyer nearly half a century ago in a littleknown area of Phoenix called Ahwatukee. Back then, a small enclave of homes off 48th Street had been organized into a homeowners association with the not very appealing name of RT-2 but a very appealing feature built right into its covenants, conditions, and restrictions. Buy a home in the area of Potomac Street, Ahwatukee Drive, a stretch of 48th Street, or Half Moon and Chippewa
drives between Warner and Elliot roads and you won’t ever worry about painting the exterior or replacing the roof, the CC&Rs guaranteed, because the HOA has your back. But modern reality has just about crushed that guarantee, creating a nightmare that threatens the owners of the 124 single-family homes in RT-2 as well as the HOA board. And soon – possibly this Saturday – the owners must make a choice: Agree to a hefty spike of at least 20% in their dues or vote to change the CC&Rs and take
see HOA page 18
Mayor Kate Gallego and City Council District 6 candidate Kevin Robinson parachuted into the Ahwatukee Swim, Tennis and Event Center’s 18th annual Chili Cook-off Sunday and sampled some green chili by Alyssa and Brandon Whiteley. Gallego turned her first visit to the cook-off into some last-minute stumping for her endorsed council candidate to fill the seat being vacated by Councilman Sal DiCiccio, who is termed out. While the results of Tuesday’s council election were past AFN’s print deadline, the latest numbers can be found on Ahwatukee.com. (David Minton/AFN Staff Photographer)
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