Growth pauses, and Pinal rethinks its future

A freeway that links Apache Junction to rural Eloy. An airport the size of Tucson International in the small town of Florence. Protected large swaths of open space in places where developers envision only rooftops.

GRAPHIC: What residents can expect

That, of course, is not the reality in Pinal County, where the often-congested, two-lane Hunt Highway is the lifeline for more than 40,000 Santan-area residents who have moved in over the last decade.

However, county officials are honing in on a vision for what Pinal County could become 20, 30 or 40 years down the road, when the population is expected to hit 1.8 million.

It's heady stuff for the third fastest-growing county in the nation with more than 300,000 people.

However, with a slowdown in the housing market, county planners have breathing room to take a measured approach in asking residents where the county wants to be "when it grows up," said Audra Koester Thomas with Partners for Strategic Action Inc., the county's consultant on updating the comprehensive plan.

That includes building job centers, freeways and mass transit. Also on the list of priorities is protecting open space and building technology improvements to boost cell phone coverage and Internet use.

"We're planting the seeds when we're not necessarily going to be around to enjoy the shade," she said.

ALREADY BEHIND

Critics will tell you that a 20-year plan is a list of things that don't happen.

The county is at least 30 years behind in its infrastructure needs, including roads, water and sewer, and telecommunications, said Rayna Palmer, head of the Northeastern Pinal Economic Partnership. The shortcomings stretch from Apache Junction to Florence and Coolidge, she said.

The last 10 years of explosive growth without much planning has led to a region that houses more people than it can adequately support, she said.

"We did not invest in the infrastructure," Palmer said. "No one saw this growth coming."

A good portion of Pinal County has already established itself as a bedroom community that runs counter to the employment centers such as stores that the county's plan would seek to create, she said.

Residents live in Pinal County and then shop where they work in Maricopa County, in large part because northeastern Pinal County offers little shopping.

"You've got all these houses there - in general terms it should spur more retail and service-sector growth, but because most of the people drive somewhere else to work, that hasn't really happened," she said.

The proposed comprehensive plan sets aside areas for plenty of job centers - something the county must enhance beyond low-wage retail jobs, said Jerry Stabley, the county's planning and development director.

The old plan, developed in 2001, failed to designate specific uses for specific areas. During the boom times, residential developers focused on Pinal County. Residents bought homes there because they were cheaper. Houses were the only things being built. The county's zoning opened the door for it, he said.

The new plan understands the value of more specific definitions. For instance, acres are being set aside for an airport in Florence to rival Tucson's, he said.

"Otherwise it will become developed. Someone is going to say 'I want this subdivision,' and all of a sudden it's all taken over by residential."

The goal is to have the plan approved in 2008.

OPEN SPACE

One of the focuses of the plan is keeping open space in a county that has the most developable state trust land in Arizona. That could be a challenge because the state pays for schools with sales of that land and allows the "highest and best use," Koester Thomas said.

"Traditionally the business-as-usual approach is that the residential gets the money," she said.

The county has already adopted an open-space plan that embraces setting aside natural areas. The county needs to work with developers to see that the open space is protected and at the state level help reform state land sales, she said.

Jason Meininger, a member of the Pinal Partnership, a business group that supports development, said protecting open space and creating jobs are not mutually exclusive goals.

A "creative knowledge-based class" of people such as engineers don't need to go the office every day. They can work from home and could be drawn to areas that offer places such as San Tan Mountain Regional Park.

"Professionals are moving more and more to an area where you don't have to go to a factory job," he said. "I think the challenge is not going the same path we're going down."

Residents will have a chance to see the county's proposed comprehensive plan at several forums this month:

9 a.m. to 11 a.m. April 19, Central Arizona College, Signal Peak Campus, 8470 N. Overfield Road, Coolidge.

6 p.m. to 8 p.m. April 22, Avalon Elementary School, 1045 S. San Marcos Drive, Apache Junction.

6 p.m. to 8 p.m. April 23, Dorothy Powell Senior Adult Living Room, 405 E. Sixth St., Casa Grande.

6 p.m. to 8 p.m. April 24, Florence High School Cafeteria, 1000 S. Main St.

Visit www.pinalcountyplan.com/workshopreg.html for more information and to register to attend.