Newly hired Growth Management Director Rick Miller has a lot on his plate as he transitions from planning director jobs in Casa Grande and Eloy to Coolidge.
“There’s a lot to do,” Miller told the Coolidge Examiner.
The General Plan
Perhaps the most important issue Miller must tackle is the city’s new general plan, which the state mandates must be revised every 10 years. That time has come for Coolidge, and it is a heavy first test to give to a new growth management director, the Examiner said.
Miller’s predecessor, Alton Bruce, retired shortly after a dispute with city council over whether the Growth Management Department could handle rewriting the general plan in a year’s time, without hiring an outside consultant, which could cost about $100,000.
Miller said the plan, which eventually must be approved by voters, is to try to write the plan in house, with some help, because he thinks the city can get an extension because its population has to over 10,000.
Part of this vision is deciding what the residents of Coolidge want the city to be, which could mean making touch choices on what kinds of businesses and developments to bring in to the town.
One major change Miller is going to try to push for this plan is simplifying the land code. Currently, there are 17 different designations for what kinds of buildings can be built in specific plots of land, whether commercial or residential. This can limit the businesses that might come into the city. Miller wants to condense the code into six categories, including only one for neighborhoods.
In the long term, the city is heavily interested in obtaining a light rail stop should the Arizona Department of Transportation choose to build a transit route from Phoenix to Coolidge. There is also the possibility of a north-south highway connecting San Tan Valley with Interstate 10.
“My passion is in downtowns,” Miller said. “When I went to Casa Grande, their downtown was 60 percent vacant, and look at it today. When you come into Coolidge, the thing you notice is the potential of its downtown area.”
But successful main street programs are provided by some larger developers that are willing to make an investment in downtowns.
Miller is already meeting with concerned property owners from land the city is planning on annexing in the coming years. The land would stretch the city further west by Eleven Mile Corner, and further south all the way up to Highway 287.
But residents in the current city limits are already concerned about the city’s ability to take care of the land it already owns, with roads that need improvement and areas that need more police attention.
