July 07, 2007

he Morrison Institute report titled "The Future at Pinal" was unveiled to the public during a formal presentation held Tuesday at the Property Conference Center in Casa Grande.

Subtitled "Making Choices, Making Places," the report had been commissioned by the Pinal County Board of Supervisors late last year and, as Pinal County Manager Terry Doolittle put it: "It sets the stage for the planning that's about to take place in Pinal County as we go forward to update our comprehensive plan."

The Morrison Institute for Public Policy, School of Public Affairs, College of Public Programs, Arizona State University is a think tank group comprised of academics and business people that have a wide range of experience and expertise on a national level in the area of research and planning.

The cover illustration of the 48-page report features a pair of photos of highways, veering off in opposite directions, and a dinner fork, which aptly symbolized the fact that, with the all the unprecedented that has taken place and with more than 650,000 entitled units yet to be developed, Pinal County is at the proverbial fork in the road as to what it's going to look like in the future - a "McMega drive through or a vibrant, sustainable, competitive place."

In his opening remarks, Doolittle said: "The Morrison Institute describes our challenges and presents significant ideas to deal with that. This may be a critical time for Pinal, but it's also an exciting time. Collectively, we have the opportunity to consider and choose what the future will hold for our region.

"The 'Future at Pinal' is the first step in a continuing countywide dialogue that will take place during the comprehensive plan effort. We already have many creative thinkers throughout Pinal in both the public and the private sectors, but we wanted to take advantage of the Morrison Institute's broad perspective and deep experience. They've studied urban growth for over 20 years starting in the middle 1980s and have followed the issue very closely since then. Their experience and expertise in the quality of life, government, education, economic development and many other topics were things that the board of supervisors wanted Pinal to benefit from.

"When we hired the Morrison Institute, we knew that we would get quality research and proactive ideas, but we had no idea of knowing exactly what this report would entail. After the presentation this morning, I think that you'll agree that they're giving us a lot to consider as we look to develop this region over the next 30 years."

Plans for the "continuing countywide dialogue" have already been made in the form of a series of scheduled Pinal County Comprehensive Plan Road Shows to take place over the next 12 months, beginning in Apache Junction on July 9. Locally, the schedule consists of the following locations and dates:

Casa Grande, 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., July 10 at Parks & Recreation Complex - Armadillo and Bobcat rooms.

Maricopa, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., July 10 at U/A Agriculture Center - Multipurpose Room.

Coolidge, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., July 12 at Coolidge Adult Center.

Florence, 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., July 12 at Town of Florence Council Chambers.

According to Pinal County Deputy Planning Director Jerry Stabley, information collected from the Road Shows will assist in developing a framework for the creation of the county's vision. In August, another series of Vision Workshops will be organized around the county to develop the Pinal County Vision Statement that will guide the development of the Pinal County Comprehensive Plan. When completed, the plan will be a tool to help guide and shape the county's future growth.

"The board of supervisors is committed to insuring strong, livable communities and increasing the quality of life," said Supervisor Lionel Ruiz in his opening remarks. "It was with that in mind that we asked the Morrison Institute to help us think of how we can make Pinal County distinct from other places, not only in Arizona but also throughout the country. We wanted more ideas of preserving our open lands and getting more and better jobs. We wanted to see how we could make Pinal County to benefit everyone regardless of what area or what community they live in.

"The report helps to start our report to the county. You all know about our tremendous amount of growth in the recent years and what is expected in the coming years. The growth brings many not only challenges but also many opportunities to all of us, and if we do not act on this to put more tools in place, it will soon be too late. Your ideas and recommendations are needed to insure long-term success for communities. Before we know where we're going, we need to know where we're coming from, and I think the Morrison report is going to help that to accomplish that."

In introducing Grady Gammage Jr. to the audience, Morrison Institute Director Rob Melnick credited him for having made a significant contribution to the report and called him the foremost policy analyst in the state of Arizona.

"I'm very serious about what I'm about to say here," Melnick said. "We know what the future of Pima and Maricopa counties look like ... we can see it. We know exactly what's going to happen; how it's going to turn out. Those dies are cast. They made decisions long ago that have put them in a position that they are in now for better or worse, depending on what you think of Pima and Maricopa, but not so for Pinal. You still have choices that frankly the other counties don't have at this point.

"You can create a new recipe. You can add spice. You can determine the cooking temperature and the time. You can create a new, distinct dish, if you so choose. It doesn't mean that you will, but you can, and I want to point out that you have that choice and the other counties that you often think about and certainly relate to don't have that choice any more.

"This is not a plan. That's your job from here out. That's the job of everybody in this room, led by the county elected officials and the staff, but everyone plays a part as you go forward and consider this report as a tool for coming up with a plan for how you want to see this recipe turn out.

"But there's a sense that I have in talking with people and getting to know them in Pinal County of stewardship, of concern for the way this place turns out for everybody that is remarkable, and I said it's not guaranteed that Pinal County will make perfect good decisions or even quote the right decisions, whatever that means. But I think the chances are much stronger here than virtually any client that I've dealt with since I been at Morrison Institute for all these years. I leave that to you as your challenge."

Gammage then stepped to the podium and spent nearly an hour discussing the content of the report.

READ THE MORRISON INSTITUTE'S REPORT AT http://www.morrisoninstitute.org

©Casa Grande Valley Newspapers Inc. 2007