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"Every time I go there it seems like it's twice as big," said state Rep. John McComish, R-Phoenix, president of the Ahwatukee Foothills Chamber of Commerce.
For the chamber that growth is good.
Hundreds of people in Maricopa drive at least 20 minutes through the Gila River Reservation every day "to town" to buy things, get haircuts, go to movies, visit doctors, go to school or work.
"Town" is Ahwatukee Foothills or Chandler, they say, and that is having an economic impact on those southeast Valley communities.
Maricopa, in Pinal County about 20 miles south of Ahwatukee Foothills, has quickly grown from a little farming town with 1,500 residents five years ago into a city of about 11,000 residents. It has also become a suburb to Ahwatukee Foothills and Chandler and an exurb to the larger Phoenix area.
The other option is to drive 20 minutes to Casa Grande, but many prefer heading to the Valley.
"Maricopa is really a Phoenix metropolitan city -- it's not really a Pinal County city," Maricopa City Manager Rick Buss said. "It's much closer than people expect."
Building permits boom
Maricopa is issuing 500 to 600 building permits a month and Buss expects that to continue for four or five years. "It's quite frightening or astounding, however you want to characterize it," he said. "We're very busy."
The city grew so fast because it was one of the few places left in the southeast Valley area where people can get new homes at a reasonable price, compared with skyrocketing prices closer in. Residents also like the openness.
Donna Russoniello, an Intel worker who moved there two years ago from Scottsdale, describes it as a nice, small-town community. "It's kind of like moving back in time, moving down there."
She likes other things like being able to see the stars so clearly.
McComish suspects that since Ahwatukee Foothills is the closest community, it is getting a lot of direct benefits. Some Ahwatukee businesses have begun advertising in Maricopa, he said.
Bill Ahern, manager of the new JCPenney store in Ahwatukee Foothills, said "all of a sudden these people are saying, 'I live in Maricopa' and a few associates live there, too."
Stacey Jones, 30, who moved to Maricopa recently from Ahwatukee Foothills to get more house for the money, comes back one to three times a week for shopping, even though Maricopa now has a Bashas' that opened last summer.
Harry Paxton, a retail specialist for Chandler's Economic Development Department, said that because there is not a lot of retail yet in Maricopa the businesses in west Chandler along Interstate 10 are probably benefiting. "They're obviously going somewhere. I sure hope they come to Chandler to shop," he said.
Maricopa Mayor Kelly Anderson, a flower grower, calls it a bedroom community for the time being. He's confident that the doctors, dentists, lawyers and home improvement stores will soon be coming.
Retail on the way
Maricopa, a stagecoach stop on the Butterfield Overland Mail Line in the mid-1800s, is unusual in that it never had a traditional downtown. So most of the retail that's already there is less than a year old, including the Bashas', Blockbuster Video, Native New Yorker restaurant, Curves fitness studio, and Walgreens and CVS pharmacies.
Fry's Marketplace and Fletcher's Tire & Auto Service are under construction, and a number of restaurants are coming, Buss said. Vestar Development Co. hopes to build an 825,000-square-foot power center in Maricopa, but city officials haven't seen plans yet.
Pederson Group and WDP Partners, which are based in Phoenix, also are planning to build a large mall northeast of I-10 and Florence Boulevard near Casa Grande that is supposed to open in 2007.
Gary Pederson, vice president of the Pederson Group, said Maricopa is pretty much in the middle between the new planned shopping center and Ahwatukee. For the time being, Maricopa residents say they miss having more businesses nearby. They also express other concerns.
Floann Ghigliazza, 66, a California transplant, said: "The biggest problem we have here is that there are no doctors. That is one we need to improve on."
History of Maricopa (Ahwatukee Republic, page 2)
1694: Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, an early missionary, records a description of an agricultural community populated by friendly Native Americans who were established traders.
Mid-1800s: The area, now known as Maricopa Wells, is a source of water for people traveling the Gila Trail. The area becomes a famous stage stop for the Butterfield Overland Mail Line from San Antonio to San Diego.
1870s: A railroad is built south of the wells, and a spur is built from Maricopa to Phoenix.
1935: Rail traffic to the north is halted, and Maricopa becomes a vibrant farm community. It's still a major source of cotton, grains, fruit, vegetables and beef.
1994: The Harrah's Phoenix Ak-Chin Casino opens south of Maricopa on the Ak-Chin Reservation, bringing more traffic through Maricopa.
2003: A master-planned community called Rancho El Dorado emerges from cotton fields and more than two dozen other developments are soon started. The city incorporates in October. Population swells from 1,500 to 5,000 by late 2004 and to about 11,000 and growing today.
www.cityofmaricopa.net and The Arizona Republic files
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