By Adam Gaub
Casa Grande Dispatch
Note: RLG’s Jordan rose served as the moderator for this panel of mayors.
A trio of Pinal County mayors were on hand in Casa Grande on Friday morning, discussing the future of the county and the strategy each community was to take in determining its part.
At issue is the ongoing push for members from the Sun Corridor Municipal Planning Organization, which is being formed by the city of Casa Grande to help direct the future planning of transportation, air quality and other regional issues. Forming an MPO, Casa Grande Mayor Bob Jackson said, was a decision forced upon the city once its metro area surpassed the 50,000 population threshold last year.
Jackson said Casa Grande could have had the Central Arizona Association of Govern- ments take the lead in becoming the MPO, much like Maricopa County’s cities did with the Maricopa Association of Governments in the early 1970s, but decided to go a different direction.
“As a city, we feel we’re better served with an MPO composed of our neighbors,” Jackson said, adding that he believed CAAG’s interests were spread too far with representing communities as far east as Gila County. “In western Pinal County, we no longer have some of the same issues” as eastern Pinal and Gila County.
Though Florence Mayor Tom Rankin was critical of the city of Maricopa’s decision to join MAG rather than the Sun Corridor MPO — Rankin said he heavily favors his city joining up with Casa Grande, Eloy and others in the Sun Corridor MPO — Maricopa Mayor Christian Price said the decision was not made with the intent of turning away from Pinal County.
“We’re not trying to betray Pinal County in any way, shape or form,” said Price, mentioning that much thought and discussion went into the decision to join MAG. That decision was made last month in a 4-3 vote. “We’re looking to bring additional resources to the city of Maricopa and the county of Pinal from our neighbors to the north.”
Jackson echoed Price’s thoughts, saying he believed it could be beneficial for future transportation planning in particular to have Maricopa with a seat at the table in MAG.
Dennis Smith, the executive director of MAG, told the Pinal Partnership audience that its goal was not to invade Pinal County looking to expand its reach, but rather strengthen a partnership that will be key in growing the Sun Corridor economically in the years to come.
“We are not totally connected politically or with much of anything else, but we are connected by travel,” Smith said. “We are connected economies.”
He spoke on the average commute distance of a Pinal County resident being 26 miles — twice the national average — and said Pinal’s focus in all of its planning efforts must tie back to creating more jobs for its residents and shifting away from being a bed- room county to Pima and Maricopa counties.
He envisions MAG’s playing a part in studies for the Interstate 11 project as well as the north- south corridor study that would affect San Tan Valley, Florence and potentially many other communities in central to eastern Pinal County.
“The real ball game here is growing the economy in the Sun Corridor, and right now we’re just getting killed by the state of Texas,” Smith said, pointing to the infrastructure that state has put in place in terms of transportation to facilitate a smooth north- south corridor for goods coming up from Mexico. “You just can’t believe the amount of aerospace and automotive engineering that is in Mexico now.”
Smith said the efforts of planning organizations in Pinal, Maricopa and Pima counties should be uniting to push for big projects, such as the proposed Union Pacific switching yard in Red Rock, that would be beneficial to the entire corridor.
For the three mayors, the decision as to which planning organization to join was based on a multitude of factors, but for Rankin, it hinges on which one can provide the biggest voice.
“This (Sun Corridor) MPO is what will make Pinal County,” he said.
Price said Maricopa’s decision to join MAG may actually allow it to grow in its regional importance.
“We fully believe we can be a child of two worlds,” he said, pointing out there are 16 member cities of MAG that are smaller than Maricopa. “Over 75 percent of our residents leave to work in Maricopa County every day … so Maricopa is in a very unique position.”
Jackson said the goal for the Sun Corridor MPO is to have the paperwork to Gov. Jan Brewer by the end of March with the charter members on board (Coolidge, Florence and both the Ak-Chin and Gila River Indian communities are being considered for the MPO). From there, they will go about the business of electing a board and hiring staff.
“Right now we’re just trying to figure out what the ultimate boundary of the MPO will be,” he said.
