Stonehenge is one of the largest pre-historic monuments left by the original inhabitants of southern England. Visitors love it. Scholars debate its symbolism and purpose.

Fountain Hills has its own Stonehenge on the Avenue of the Fountains. Look at the large metal structures in front on the Park Place development. They house utility equipment to service the soon-to-be inhabitants of the Park Place retail and residential units.

They are an eyesore. They are on concrete islands that extend into the Avenue, eliminating several parking spaces.

Why have these metal monoliths been placed along the Avenue? Developers have options to relocate utility boxes out of sight. Some developers pay extra to place their utility structures behind buildings, or somewhere else more appropriate to enhance the attractiveness of their project. Development agreements can be written to require this.

But in our town, the Park Place utility structures are prominently placed right along the Avenue. How could the three council members who negotiated the Park Place deal (Yates, Kavanagh, Brown) have allowed this to happen?

Perhaps:

*Instead of fighting over every penny owed to the town, the Park Place developer could have helped the town and made the Avenue more attractive by re-positioning the utility structures;

*Instead of paying for lawyers and other costs to sue the town and its officials in frivolous lawsuits, the developer could have used the money to place the utility monoliths in a more appropriate location;

*The town Public Art Committee can designate the structures as “art” and credit the Park Place developer for its contribution to the town. Sound farfetched? It’s happened before.

We now have our own home-grown Avenue of the Fountains Stonehenge. Let’s hope visitors don’t ask what symbolism it has for our town or its real purpose.