By Mark Cowling | Casa Grande Dispatch
Florence would increase its “civilian” population by more than half with a pair of annexations that would take Magic Ranch, Crestfield Manor and Wild Horse Estates into the corporate limits.
If these annexations are completed in six months to one year, they would comprise the town’s biggest civilian population center.
Florence has annexed acreage several times in recent years, swelling the corporate limits to just over 62 square miles. Most of these annexations, however, have added little if any population to the town.
Now these pending annexations would add more than 4,200 civilian residents. This would be the town’s largest population gain by annexation since it took in Arizona State Prison’s Eyman Complex in 2000. Florence’s official population of more than 25,000 in the 2010 U.S. Census includes more than 17,000 inmates in the various penal institutions.
The town has scheduled public meetings at 6:30 p.m. next Tuesday and Thursday at Town Hall for residents in the proposed annexation areas. These are not public hearings but are intended to provide an opportunity for the town to welcome these areas into the town limits.
