Rotary Club of Marana  Rotary Club of Marana Meeting; 8/4/2020 This morning we were pleased to welcome Jamsheed Mehta, Manager of the Town of Marana, our town. Jamsheed earned a degree in Civil Engineering before moving with his wife and mother from Karachi to Kansas where he earned his master’s degree in Urban Planning. He began his career in transportation and infrastructure and has expanded into city leadership. We’re appreciative that he joined us today. Announcements:
Happy Bucks Highlights:
Our program today was provided by Jamsheed Mehta who has been with the Town of Marana for 6 years, 3 as the Town Manager. He approaches his position with a vision for Marana that is people and culture-centered, growth-oriented, sustainable, and accessible. Marana is a town of approximately 42,000 residents, a 43% growth rate since 2010. Population growth is expected to continue here for the foreseeable future. Marana began developing its budget for the coming fiscal year in October of last year. Marana revenue is derived from sales tax and, with anticipated growth, forecast was rosy and a corresponding optimistic budget created. COVID-19, however, brought an abrupt halt to the anticipated revenue. As people’s discretionary monies became much more restricted and cultural events had to be cancelled, Marana was obliged to refigure the budget with a more somber forecast of revenue. It has made difficult decisions. All vacant positions are currently frozen. There is no equipment replacement or repairs in the municipal’s departments; e.g., parks and rec, police. Capital projects, such as road improvement, have been put on hold. Despite the current environment, there has been modest tax revenue growth continuing. Low interest rates have supported home sales, and two to three thousand homes have been constructed in this year. Development in Marana is not speculative, so the construction represents a 2000 to 3000 growth in population. Retail sales are also stabilizing; hotel occupancy has returned to 75%, and restaurants are recovering. Future economic growth is very encouraging, as 3 significant industries will be setting up shop in Marana. PVB Fabrication, which produces metals, will create at least 50 jobs. Luke Automotive Dealership, with anticipated sales beginning in 1 year, will be the first dealership in Marana. JD Russell, a landscape supply and accessory company, will be Headquartering in Marana. The future looks bright. Marana is a unique jurisdiction in that it has three distinct growth regions that are geographically isolated from each other by expansive swaths of desert, and/or freeway, and/or building. Despite the spread, Marana would like to create a city center that is pedestrian-oriented with dining, shopping, and culture/art. An area has been identified for development of the center. However, the identified land is already entitled to developers. As such, Marana is working to encourage the entitled developers’ interest in its vision. Marana is incentivizing developers by offering lighting and broadened sidewalks, amongst other things. Residential development and population growth, while currently slowed, is anticipated to boom. In the northwest of Marana 26,000 single-family resident homes (SFRs) are planned for development. 3,100 of those have been built to date. Cascada is a planned community across from the premium outlet mall that is also planned. Residents will begin moving into Cascada once Gladden Farms and Dove Mountain are saturated. Currently there is no water to the Cascada area. Marana is partnering with Oro Valley and Metro Water in a water pipe project that is taking CAP water from recharge basins just north of the airport to Cascada. The water pipe project should complete in 2023-24. Marana additionally has a 40-year vision of development along the Twin Peaks Corridor. Our little town will be not so little before long. Freeway development and interchanges are of particular concern as Marana continues to flourish. Because Marana is divided by the freeway, day to day driving very frequently involves freeway use or crossing. Marana will work closely with the RTA to make it aware of the unique challenges and needs of the Marana Community as it grows. We thank Jamsheed for painting a picture for us of Marana’s landscape, its population growth, economic growth, and development. We look forward to bumping into one another one evening while strolling in the city center. Submitted my Mary Straus |