Call (520) 868-5442 for Information on the Pinal County Comprehensive plan and to obtain a questionnaire allowing you to input to that plan.

By J.C. Huntington
Posted to PoisonedWells June 27, 2001

On May 18, 2000, the Growing Smarter Plus legislation became effective and required a county wide comprehensive plan to govern growth related issues.  The intent of the legislation was to strengthen the ability of Arizona's communities to address those issues. 

On June 23, more than a year after the Growing Smarter Plus legislation was enacted, Dennis Cady, director of Pinal  Planning and Development Services Department, told the Casa Grande Dispatch that Pinal County is now hard at work generating a compressive plan as well as a process to involve Pinal residents in helping formulate the plan. 

The plan must be in place 6 months from now on Dec. 31. "It's a tight schedule," Cady said, "but I think we can manage it by then." 

Cady assured  The Casa Grande Dispatch that public input to the plan is key and said a seven-member task force had been formed.

"We have formed a seven-member citizens task force, and they're going to conduct open meetings, which will be a kind of combination of open house and public meeting, where they'll give a short presentation of what is a comprehensive plan ... what is the process. And then they will open the session for some questions that the audience may have, or to give them a chance to voice their concerns as citizens," Cady said.

Cady told the Dispatch that residents will be asked questions such as, "Do you want growth? Do you not want growth? Do you want open space ... not want open space? What kind of densities would be appropriate? What kind of land use ... transportation and water issues?"

The county has been divided into 6 areas, presumably with a citizen task force per area. 

Area 4B covers the southeastern portion of the county.  The members of the citizen task force for Area 4B are:
 

On May 21, Anne Graham-Bergin, an attorney representing Pinal Citizens for Sustainable Communities, formally requested that the Board of Supervisors rescind the rezoning of over 4,600 acres for the South Village of Willow Springs because there was no comprensive plan covering the area that was rezoned. 

On June 11, Deputy County Attorney William McLean told the Dispatch that the issue is still being researched and the county will respond "as soon as we have the answer." 

Meanwhile, Pinal voters continue to sign petitions to put the Board of Supervisors approval of the Willow Springs rezoning on the ballot. 

The Willow Springs referendum petitions will be submitted to Pinal County July 2.  If the referendum is successful the supervisors rezoning action will be reviewed by the public at the  Nov. 2002 general election.

Two previous referendums allowing voters to review the Board of Supervisors rezoning decisions were successful.