Vol. 15 Issue No. 2 | January 14 – 20, 2009

Peloquin gateway property now in foreclosure

By Curtis Riggs | January 14, 2009

10.3 acres to be sold at trustee’s sale

CAREFREE – The property formerly at the center of long-running litigation between developer Michael Peloquin and the Town of Carefree is now in foreclosure.

Peloquin, a longtime Valley developer who has filed several lawsuits against Carefree, had been seeking to build a resort on residential property on 10.3 acres at the northwest corner of Carefree Highway and Tom Darlington for many years. The land is located at one of the three gateways to Carefree.

The Carefree Town Council refused to approve the up-zoning needed to allow the resort.
Peloquin refinanced the property in July 2007, which resulted in a $4.550 million lien being placed against it. The property will be sold at a trustee’s sale in March.

Many hard feelings developed between Peloquin and Carefree officials since 2,000, when Peloquin first sued Carefree over its general plan. Peloquin sued town councilmen, and their spouses, over the actual denial of the permit needed to allow the resort in 2004.

The irony of the foreclosure coming this spring is Carefree is now pushing for a summary judgment, which would dispense with the lawsuit, just a few months before the property will be sold at the trustee’s sale.

The Arizona Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by Peloquin late last year to overturn an Arizona Court of Appeals decision, which ruled the decision by Carefree not to allow the permit was a legislative action, which required a vote of the town council. Peloquin and his legal team had long maintained approval of the permit was an administrative action, which would automatically require approval.