Old golf courses, barbed wire and angry residents are behind a push to change a Phoenix ordinance. Monday night’s meeting in Ahwatukee is one of many dealing with urban blight at closed golf courses around the city.
The proposal to city code was fast-tracked by a subcommittee in March and is now being considered by Phoenix’s 15 village planning committees. Monday night, it was the Ahwatukee Foothills Planning Committee’s turn, taking input from residents who say owners of courses are deliberately trying to drag down property values around the old overgrown links.
Acting Planning Director Alan Stephenson says the city of Phoenix understands the residents’ frustration with the ugly landscapes.
“Eliminate the blighting impacts of those perimeter fences by requiring a use permit through a public hearing process, in addition to moving those fences back 50 feet and a landscape plan," he said.
Barbed wire fences and lack of landscaping around an old executive course in Councilman Sal DiCiccio's district made him introduce the proposed changes to the current ordinance. It next goes to the full planning commission for a hearing May 13 and is expected before the full city council by the end of May.