Feb. 23, 1999

FOUNTAIN HILLS — Fountain Hills officials gave the final go ahead to put the proposed sale of $5.1 million in bonds to fund preservation and construction of a library and museum before town voters in May.

Plans call for the sale of $3.7 million in general obligation bonds to finance the construction of a 21,000-square foot building near La Montana Drive and Avenue of the Fountains.

Officials are also asking voters for permission to sell off $1.4 million in bonds to preserve a chunk of land near Fountain Park.

Both measures approving the wording of the ballot questions passed at last week’s Town Council meeting. The council originally approved putting the bond election to a vote Jan. 7.

If passed in the May 18 election, residents would be sacked with an eight to nine cent tax increase for every $100 in assessed value to pay for the land purchase, according to a bond financing company report.

Rates for the library and museum could run from 18 to 22 cents per $100 of value, the report stated.

All totaled, owners of a $150,000 property could shell out as much as $465 more each year for the new tax if voters OK the proposal.

As the project centerpiece, the library would consume about 15,000-square feet of space in the new building while the museum would take up about 5,000-square feet of space.

“There’s no question that we need a new library,” said Councilwoman Marianne Wiggishoff. “The one that we have right now is way too small.”

On the land all but one council member want to save, Sivage Thomas Homes officials plan to build 162 houses in three separate stages.

The final phase of the Diamonte Del Lago subdivision includes a 9-acre ridge-line plot of a 60-acre parcel that developers want to build 24 homes on. The remaining 50 acres is not suitable for building.

Vice Mayor Al Poma cast the only dissenting vote because the price for the land was too high.

“I think it’s outrageous and I don’t think we need it,” Poma said. “We’re surrounded with preservation, we’re surrounded by land. We do not need to be buying a ridge.”

In other matters, council members voted unanimously to throw out all bids for the community center because they were well over the estimated cost, officials said.

Most of the bids for the $8 million community center to be built on a site near the town center came in more than $1 million over projections.

“There’s no way realistically to propose or consider another version unless you take a lot of stuff definitely out,” said Walt Franklin, chairman of the Community Center Citizen’s Advisory Committee. “(But) there’s not fluff in there that you can pull out and say ‘We never expected to get that in there anyway.’”

Franklin said the committee along with architect Rob Dietz will comb through the plans hoping to scale back the center. A revised blueprint is expected in two to three weeks, he said.