By Monica D. Spencer | InMaricopa.com
A new city policy could make it easier for smaller businesses to build in Maricopa.
City council members unanimously voted April 21 to pass a new “scallop” ordinance that would allow the city to build street and infrastructure improvements, giving property owners a chance to pay their share later instead of upfront.
Development Services Director Rudy Lopez said the intent is to help “small, localized projects” alleviate the financial burden from any one business. To date, the process required the first builder on a piece of land to incur the full cost of improvements, even if other projects benefit from them.
That’s great for a big box store like Home Depot, but less so for a smaller business looking to establish a presence in Maricopa.
“This is another tool to our development services toolbox with small, localized projects … to make sure that we do have proper improvements being done when development is occurring,” Lopez said.
