By Jen Fifield | Arizona Republic
The Phoenix City Council voted Feb. 17 to reverse its recent decision to change the zoning on the Villa de Paz Golf Course from residential use to golf course use. The zoning now allows the course owner to build homes on the land if the city approves its plan.
The February decision means the city and owner are back to square one as they continue to disagree on how much of the land can be developed and try to negotiate on what the development may look like. Meanwhile, the former golf course, near Loop 101 and Camelback Road, sits vacant, potentially attracting vagrants and crime to the surrounding neighborhood.
The council’s reversal came at the dismay of some residents living around the course who had celebrated the initial rezoning. They had been trying to save the golf course for years, and the golf course zoning was meant to block the course owner’s plans to transform the closed course into a new neighborhood.
