Smith wants to focus on economic growth in Mesa

When it comes to bringing quality, high-wage jobs to Mesa, it’s time for the city and business community to follow comedian Larry the Cable Guy’s command to “Git-R-Done.”

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That’s according to Mesa Mayor Scott Smith, who hosted a forum Tuesday on the city’s somewhat untapped potential for robust economic growth, and the need for everyone to come together and work toward creating more high-wage jobs.

High-wage job growth includes everything from massive corporate expansion to “Bill’s Garage” adding two more bays, he said.

“As the community prospers … things like city finances will have a tendency to take care of themselves due to increased economic activity,” Smith said.

Chris Brady, Mesa’s city manager, said freeway access is one of the city’s biggest strengths for attracting economic growth. Forty percent of Mesa’s commercial square footage is located within one mile of a freeway, he said.

The latest freeway-access milestone arrives later this month with the completion of the Red Mountain freeway section of Loop 202. The city needs to do a better job of planning around freeways to accommodate economic development, he said.

Mesa has great airports, but there needs to be more employers surrounding them, Brady said. People prefer to live close to where they work, and that continues to be a problem in the city, he said.

“There are 40,000 households within about 15 minutes of the core of (Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport), but only 27,000 jobs,” he said. “The households are there, the labor force is there.”

Last month, the Phoenix Business Journal ranked the top 50 firms in the East Valley by the number of full-time equivalent employees. Mesa had four in the top 10, while Tempe had four and Chandler had two.

“Here’s the difference: Tempe’s total added up to 19,000 (employees), Chandler’s two added up to 20,000 and Mesa’s four added up to 12,000,” Brady said. “Let’s take 11 through 50 (in the ranking); Tempe was the home of 18 of them, Chandler was 11, Gilbert was five and Mesa was three. This has to change.”

One key to encouraging positive economic growth is flexible zoning in terms of commercial land use, Smith said. The area surrounding Southern Avenue and Alma School Road, for example, has long been zoned for retail and restaurants, and it’s now clear that “stores don’t work” because of all the vacated retail space, he said.

“Flexible zoning allows creative thinking,” he said.