TEMPE, AZ (AZFamily) — It was a heated night Wednesday at the Church of the Epiphany in Tempe during a neighborhood meeting hosted by developers who want to buy the Shalimar Golf Course and build single-family homes and townhouses.
”Frankly, any time there’s change, that’s met with opposition and that’s difficult for people to understand. It is very emotional,” said Branden Lombardi, the President of BB Living.
He said BB Living and Cachet Homes are in escrow with the owner of Shalimar, Jane Neuheisel. It’s a multi-million dollar deal contingent on the city of Tempe rezoning the 44-acre piece of land.
The developers have had two neighborhood meetings in June where they laid out their proposal to the community.
People who live near the townhouses booed at the developers and grilled them on Wednesday regarding details about traffic impact, property values and how many people will be living in the homes. More than 200 people were in attendance, including the president of the group called Save Shalimar, Carl Streiff.
”That is a real issue to our organization and there’s a complete lack of empathy by the owners and the developers of the impact to the neighborhood,” said Streiff. “The profit they’re going to make is being supplemented by the loss of equity by hundreds.”
Streiff said wildlife is dying and more than 400 trees could be cut down for this project. He said they’re not against development, but they don’t want the golf course gone.
He said they have a person who is interested in buying the land and improving the golf course. ”You don’t see developers knocking down homes to build green spaces, once it’s gone, it’s gone forever,” said Streiff.
In April, neighbors said Neuheisel closed the golf course and turned the water off. Arizona’s Family received videos from neighbors of ponds drying up with dead fish. They said it was leaving a foul smell in the air and believe it’s a tactic by the owner to get neighbors to give in to the developers.
Neuheisel was not at Wednesday’s meeting, but a letter from her was passed out to the public. It was titled “This is a very important request from Jane Neuheisel.”
Jane Neuheisel sent a letter saying the developers have a “beautiful” plan for the area.(Jane Neuheisel)
During the meeting, a man told the developers they’re being disingenuous. “That’s really unfortunate. I don’t know how, when we try to present the facts. We’re asked to do certain things by the city of Tempe and provide information. That’s what we’re trying to do. It’s a little tough in a condensed 90-minute meeting to give someone a 500-page traffic report,” said Lombardi. He said they’ve changed the plan from nearly 400 homes to about 250.
However, residents say that it will still cause a lot of issues and question the data being presented. The developers have submitted the proposal to the city but the Tempe City Council has not yet received it.
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