By Dianna M. Náñez | The Republic | azcentral.com
Despite deep budget cuts since the economic downturn, Mesa officials have invested in making home improvement projects less daunting for residents, joining other Southeast Valley communities that have taken similar steps.
“During the recession we … lost about two-thirds of our staff,” said Christine Zielonka, Mesa’s Development and Sustainability Department director.
Zielonka said the city council was determined to prevent smaller housing projects from getting lost amid Mesa’s major developments.
“They really wanted us to bring some kind of program to help the residential
mom-and-pop kind of situations, where it’s not a developer, not a contractor,” she said. “Where it’s like, ‘I want to enclose my garage. I want to redo my kitchen. But I don’t know where to start.’ ” Last year, Mesa launched a pilot program that funded a temporary planning and engineering expert to work with residents.
Other Southeast Valley communities, among them Gilbert, Chandler and Tempe, also are attempting to cut through the red tape to make home remodeling and property upgrading easier. Unlike Gilbert, many Mesa, Chandler and Tempe homes built in the 1960s and 1970s do not have 21st-century amenities and some are falling into disrepair.
