City Hall hosts General Plan Open House tonight, Wednesday

The city of Maricopa will be holding a General Plan Open House over the next two nights for the public to come and address any questions or concerns they have for the city’s future.

The goal of updating the city’s General Plan is to allow it to put the city on the right path to reach its 2040 Vision. In order to get there, the General Plan must be adjusted to fit the vision of the city’s needs.

“The 2040 Vision is the foundation for the review of the plan,” General Plan Project Manager Dana Burkhardt said. “The General Plan needs to be assessed, reviewed and updated. We want to have an informal meeting where members of the public can come discuss their ideas and provide feedback.”

The meetings will feature prompts for members of the public to discuss. Subjects ranging from open space and public use trails to redevelopment and flood control policies are expected to be topics of heavy discussion.

“We’d like to have more tangible goals and objectives,” Burkhardt said. “We’re trying to develop a 10- to 15-year outlook. This doesn’t just lay the ground work for us and our children, but looking ahead to the 2040 Vision, this will benefit our children’s children.”

Surveys, assessments and reviews with each of the city’s boards and committees will be combined with the results from the meetings over the next two nights to come up with an initial draft of the General Plan. Once a draft is made, another meeting will be held for the public to weigh in.

“[The City Council] will all be asked to vote for approval on this plan next year,” City Council member Nancy Smith said in a statement. Now is our opportunity as residents and as voters to provide input in how land is used in the current city limits and the General Plan area not yet within the city limits.”

The meetings will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday night and 5 to 6 p.m. Wednesday night in the City Council chambers inside City Hall at 39700 West Civic Center Plaza in Maricopa.

If any residents are unable to attend but would still like to be part of the discussion, they are asked to contact Burkhardt via email at [email protected] or the call the Development Services office at 520-316-6886. For additional information on the General Plan, visit Maricopa-AZ.gov/Web/General-Plan.