 | Regional Growing Smarter Implementation Plan
Maricopa County Region, ArizonaAbstractThere are few issues receiving as much attention today as so-called Asmart growth.@ Citizens around the nation are demanding that city, state and regional planners consider the impacts of growth in their communities and implement land use plans which protect their quality of life. In Arizona, those demands resulted in state legislation known as the AGrowing Smarter@ initiative. This initiative requires that all local governments in Arizona adopt General Plans that incorporate, at a minimum, land use and circulation elements. The Maricopa Association of Governments serves as the lead regional planning agency for 24 cities, two Indian communities and Maricopa County. As the designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and Council of Governments (COG) for a region inhabited by nearly three million people, the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) understands the crucial responsibility inherent in its role of developing polices and making decisions affecting land use, transportation and air quality. MAG will develop a Regional Growing Smarter Implementation Plan to assist the 27 local governments that are its member agencies to use a consistent regional approach for complying with the Growing Smarter requirements. The Regional Growing Smarter Implementation Plan will develop strategies to direct infrastructure development and open space areas and thereby contribute to sustainable communities. The study area is Maricopa County, which has a geographic area of 9,226 square miles and a population of 2.8 million. The population subgroups impacted in this region include more than ten percent of the total households living below the poverty level, and are of a diverse racial and ethnic background. Based on the 1995 Special Census, 20.5 percent of the population of the region is of Hispanic origin. Although two percent of the population is Native American, the Indian communities occupy a large percentage of the available developable land. Between 1990 and 1998, Maricopa County experienced the largest net increase in population of any county in the US. We added more than 661,000 residents, outpacing Clark County, Nevada (Las Vegas) by more than 200,000 people. At the rate the region is growing, approximately 850,000 new residents will be added in this decade alone. This ten-year growth will be larger than the total population of any other county in Arizona. By 2025, it is estimated the population in the region will double from the 1995 level. This explosive growth requires significant land absorption. The fastest growth rates for cities in Maricopa County are generally located in smaller communities in the outlying areas. Due to resource constraints, these communities will definitely benefit from assistance from the Maricopa Association of Governments and a Regional Growing Smarter Implementation Plan. If selected as the recipient for the Transportation and Community and System Preservation Grant, MAG would be able to use the funds to help carry out the Regional Growing Smarter Implementation Plan. Our objectives and strategies are outlined below. Previous Page |
