By Christina Sampson
InMaricopa
Will Maricopa continue as a bedroom community where children attend school and play Little League while their parents commute to work each morning? Or will it become an independent economic center, a bright spot in the developing Sun Corridor?
The city’s vision
Micah Miranda, economic development director for the city, said the goal is for Maricopa to transition from a bedroom community to an independent municipality, with its own economic center of industry.
“Right now we serve as a bedroom community, but as we mature through our municipal life cycle, we will begin to develop an industrial office and commercial base that people won’t have to leave Maricopa for,” Miranda said.
The key to any transition is the ability to bring in outside dollars, said Lee McPheters, director of the JPMorgan Chase Economic Outlook Center at Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business.
“You’ve got to have some industries that sell goods or bring services outside the area,” McPheters said. “If you’re going to be a stand-alone area, you’ve just got to have that.”
Retail businesses, while beneficial for residents and the city’s internal economy, do not spur bedroom communities into economic centers because “retail recirculates existing dollars,” McPheters said.
