Business-friendly Maricopa? Starting up can be frustrating, confusing

Doing business anywhere has its challenges.

Every community has its permitting processes and codes to live by. Some municipalities have a free-range approach to bringing in business, some act as roadblocks, and some seem to be amenable to new business but in reality tend to get in the way.

Often, it is about perception and communication.

Maricopa has an Economic Development Department to work with businesses. There is also a Development Services Department to keep codes and zoning clear. In 2012, the city published a “Small Business Startup Guide” to be even more helpful.

For all of that, a recent InMaricopa.com poll showed nearly 70 percent of respondents calling the City of Maricopa difficult to work with. As self-selecting and non-scientific as any online poll is, it still hinted at frustration in the marketplace.

“Oftentimes there is a lack of good information among businesspeople,” interim Economic Development Director Harold Stewart said, speaking of general circumstances. “They don’t know what the city’s processes are. They don’t know who to approach at the city for assistance.

“The economic development departments, particularly this one, are set up to try to be responsive. We try to serve as a resource for information.”

He said, from his experience, the communication breakdown comes because people do not know where to make the connection at City Hall.

“That can be frustrating as well as confusing because there are a lot of processes you have to deal with,” Stewart said. “You may have to deal with health department issues. We don’t do that. The city doesn’t do that. That’s a county function.”

The permitting process has been a popular topic.

Chamber of Commerce CEO Marla Lewis said complaints she hears from time to time about starting up a business in Maricopa “generally have to do with the permitting that is required.

“It’s not just the city permits; it’s the county permits and the state permits,” she said. “And then there is the tax ID and whether they are going to be an individual or a corporation.”

Lewis said she feels City Hall, through programs like Vision 2040, is looking at all of the issues that can make the start-up experience cumbersome.

That cumbersome experience is what Roman Bylkov went through in starting up Maricopa Auto Outlet. Though he said he understood the “why” of the permits for fencing and general aesthetics, the city’s drawn-out process had surprises and continued to cause delays.

Mike Richey, owner of Maricopa’s Ace Hardware and immediate past chairman of the chamber, has heard general complaints about “the amount of time to get a permit approved,” too, and noted it is not always about the city.

Getting a building permit along John Wayne Parkway is no picnic, but that is primarily because of the state, he said, “and the hoops you have to jump through, ingress and egress, traffic studies you have to run before they’ll even review it.”

Richey said he has also heard complaints about high rents in Maricopa, “and the city doesn’t have anything to do with that.”

He said the city’s attitude toward business is “certainly very supportive,” citing the creation of MCE.

Stewart said the Economic Development Department is in place to help business owners maneuver through the layers of bureaucracy and “try to make it easier and make sure communication is good. This office has always tried to reach out and let people know that we’re available.”

Michael Winer, a management analyst in the department, said the issues he has seen have been new business owners who are not aware of all the steps that must be taken in order to start a business and think it is a simple process. From financing to business licensing, help is often needed in many quarters.

“It can be frustrating, but it’s something we try to educate people on,” Winer said.

 “The city being a young city, it really does play into the fact that we don’t have all of the infrastructure in place, but we are working together,” Lewis said. “The chamber, the Maricopa Center for Entrepreneurship and governing boards are working together to be able to come to a point where it will be easier for businesses to do business in Maricopa.”

For those wanting to know more about how to work with the City of Maricopa in starting up a business, City Hall’s next “Maricopa 101” session, scheduled for Feb. 18, focuses on the Economic Development Department, “the point of contact for individuals seeking local assistance with site selections, market, demographic information and business resources.”

The session is from 5 to 6 p.m. in the Zephyr Conference Room at City Hall, 39700 W. Civic Center Plaza.