City leaders view Maricopa’s growth from new perspective

Driving the streets of Maricopa, it is hard to grasp how sprawling the city actually is. The housing and population numbers are impressive, but seeing the city from the air offers an entirely new perspective.

City leaders were given a bird’s eye view of Maricopa recently, thanks to Janeen Rohovit, Salt River Project’s (SRP) Government Liaison for Pinal County. Also joining the tour was SRP Senior Project Manager Dan Hawkins and Grant Ward, General Manager of Electrical District Number 3 (ED3).

On tour (from left): Janeen Rohovit, Mayor Kelly Anderson, city planning director Amy Haberbosch-Arco, city manager Rick Buss, Councilman Kelly Haddad, Councilman Edward Farrell, Councilman Joe Estes, Vice-Mayor Brent Murphree, Councilman Will Dunn, Grant Ward, pilot and project engineer for SRP Mike Voda and Dan Hawkins.

“The flight was eye-opening,” commented Ward. “You see the development going on, but it’s different flying over it and seeing house after house.”

Hawkins was also impressed to see the growth of the city. “When we first started driving into Maricopa there was not much here, and there was no traffic,” he recalled, explaining that the new SRP transmission line, while inside the city’s planning area, is not yet in the formal city limits.

“Being able to see the greater Maricopa area from the vantage point of a helicopter was definitely an opportunity for us to put many of the projects the city has going together,” said Mayor Kelly Anderson. “We flew the General Plan area starting along 238, then south to I-8, back up White and Parker Road and then into the center of the city. To visualize the grade separation at 347 and the tie-in to the Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway from the air really put into perspective what a planning and engineering task that will be.”

Anderson continued, “The flight also took us over the next annexation areas both to the south, where the Vestar commercial project will be and along SR 238, which will be home to the future employment corridor for the city. We hovered over the first city park, Pacana Park, for several minutes and saw how much progress has been made.”

The mayor expressed his gratitude to Rohovit and SRP for “the gracious offer of taking the council and several city staff members for the tour in their company helicopter.”

“It was so beneficial to have council and key staff together to discuss the various land use issues, transportation concerns and the need for economic development not only within our city limits but also that within the county and with our Native American neighbors,” Anderson remarked. “There is still is a tremendous amount of agricultural activity ongoing; however, we all know that much of this area is slated for development.

Summing up the hour long tour, Anderson noted, “Having a visual reference from the helicopter was an opportunity which I think we all will be able to reflect upon as we move ahead with decisions concerning the City of Maricopa.”