By Ken Sain | East Valley Tribune
The East Valley’s economic development has been soaring, with billions of dollars in new industry arriving in recent years. But there is one issue that may slow down that growth.
“Housing is an economic development issue,” said Dan Henderson, the director of economic development for Gilbert. “It’s something we take very seriously.”
New companies keep arriving for a variety of reasons, including the weather, an educated workforce and low taxes. However, if their employees are unable to obtain affordable housing, it could cause those companies to look elsewhere.
“Yeah, it is an economic development issue in Chandler,” said Micah Miranda, the economic development director for Chandler.
Miranda, Henderson and Doreen Cott, economic development director for Queen Creek, spoke at the 2025 Tri-City Economic Development Update put on by the Chambers of Commerce in those three cities.
Miranda said that Chandler has been thinking about this problem for a while, because they are the nearest to buildout of the three cities.
The city has developed about 94% of its available land. Most of what remains is set aside for business or industrial use. There’s not a lot of space left for housing.
“The City of Chandler has been in this space for a while, and just this past year … Council made a number of pretty substantial code changes related to zoning, specifically to allow more density in certain areas of the city,” Miranda said.
