High Growth Counties: Opportunities for Pinal County

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High Growth Counties Opportunities for Pinal
County

• Pinal County Comprehensive Plan

Curt Dunham AICP Partners for Strategic Action,
Inc. Comprehensive Plan Update Consultant
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Peer Counties Qualifications

• Rapid growth over past 20 years
• Impacted by one or more rapidly growing metro
  areas
• Urban/agricultural/open space interface
• Preservation issues
• Bedroom community/commuting issues

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Peer Counties Identified

• Polk County, Florida
• Cobb County, Georgia
• Arapahoe County, Colorado

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Polk County, Florida

• County between Orlando and Tampa
• Long established agricultural area (citrus)
• Interstate 4 corridor (I-4)
• Population 550,000
• 2,010 square miles Floridas fourth largest

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Polk County, Florida
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Polk County, Florida
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Polk County Current Issues

• Addressing transportation travel patterns
• No dedicated funding source to address
  transportation issues
• Prevent becoming a bedroom community
• Create jobs near people

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Polk County Good Decisions

• Updated Comprehensive Plan to include sub-areas
• Economic development is tied to land uses
  consultants used have economic development
  expertise
• Planning to create a better mix of land uses and
  bring services and jobs near residential areas

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Polk County Preserving Agriculture

• Strong public desire
• Developed Polk County Land Stewardship Program
  a consortium of different interests
• Alliance built between agricultural interests and
  environmental interests

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Polk County - Transportation

• Travel patterns Interstate, Disney World
• Just entered into an agreement with Orlando
  transit to tie into and provide new
  transportation services

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Polk County Economic Development

• County not able to do much and not asked to
• Include economic elements in land use planning
• Support private non-profit Central Florida
  Development Council

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Polk County - Collaboration

• Coordinate with other agencies through regional
  Municipal Planning Organization
• Developed a county/city managers alliance that
  meets monthly
• Much stronger collaboration to preserve long-term
  water supply

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Polk County In Hindsight

• Should have developed a dedicated funding source
  for infrastructure and roads
• Now working a lot more closely with other
  governmental entitiesthis should have happened
  sooner

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Cobb County, Georgia

• Suburban Atlanta area
• Bedroom communities
• Historic areas (created from Cherokee County,
  originally part of Cherokee Indian Nation)
• Interstate 75 Corridor (I-75)
• 600,000 of 670,000 residents are not within
  municipalities (unincorporated county)
• 340.2 square miles

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Cobb County, Georgia
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Cobb County, Georgia
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Cobb County Issues

• Regional transit and commuting
• Need to expand transit and make better regional
  connections of the roadway system
• Redirect growth
• Protect green space

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Cobb County Good Decisions

• Installed a sewer system for the entire county in
  the 1980s except where growth would be
  discouraged. Used infrastructure as a growth
  management tool and to protect water resources
• Use of Community Improvement Districts to fund
  transportation projects
• 4.1 million bond passed to begin to purchase
  green space

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Cobb County Issues

• Small farms to residential
• Industrial areas along I-75 are starting to
  change
• Growing Latino population
• Attempting to develop employment centers to
  balance growth (residential, employment,
  commercial)

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Cobb County Economic Development

• Counties in Georgia have similar powers as
  cities
• Incentives
• Economic development department
• Very active in working with other entities and
  organizations, such as chambers of commerce, in
  attracting firms and jobs

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Cobb County - Collaboration

• House Bill 489 mandates intergovernmental
  cooperation
• Developed service delivery strategy to minimize
  duplication and improve effectiveness

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Cobb County In Hindsight

• Voted down mass transit in 1970s still paying
  for it!
• High costs of doing it now
• Communities that did join have very high quality
  development around stations
• Lack of mass transit systems added to commuting
  problems and congestion

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Arapahoe County, Colorado

• Denver Metro Area
• 35 urban,65 rural (urban population to the
  West, rural population to the East)
• Interstate 70 Corridor (I-70)
• Population 550,000
• 803 square miles

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Arapahoe County, Colorado
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Arapahoe County, Colorado
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Arapahoe County Issues

• State Land Department changing the rules
• Urban Growth Boundaries under constant attack
• Total dichotomy of attitudes between West and
  East County

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Arapahoe County Good Decisions

• Worked to develop Urban Growth Boundary
• Developed and stuck with Land Development Code
• Use sub-area plans to plan for specific issues
  and needs

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Arapahoe County Agricultural Preservation

• No dedicated funding
• Public desire to maintain
• No re-zoning of agricultural land
• Use special districts they have held up well

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Arapahoe County Economic Development

• Not much of a role and not much pressure to do so
  
• Support the South Metro Chamber of Commerce
• Streamlined review process

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Arapahoe County - Collaboration

• Use a referral process
• Proposal within 2 miles of any governmental
  entity are referred for review

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Arapahoe County In Hindsight

• Should have completed Land Development Code
  sooner
• Should have drafted plans to deal better with the
  changeover in leadership that will undoubtedly
  occur
• Need to work to unify urban interests in the west
  with rural interests in the east

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Opportunities for Pinal County

• Stronger advocate for economic development
• Integrate land uses with economic development
  concepts
• Agricultural preservation
• Open space preservation

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Opportunities for Pinal County

• Regional transit
• Improved communication and collaboration
  unifying communities
• Creation of job centers to lessen commuting
• Creation of dedicated funding sources and
  proactive fiscal policies

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Opportunities for Pinal County

• Develop plans that will withstand change
• Act now, hesitation is very costly
• Learn from others and make reasonable assumptions