By R. J. Zeder, Chandler Transportation & Development Director

Chandler recently held its popular Family Bike Ride led by Mayor Jay Tibshraeny and several members of our City Council.

The annual event provides families with a great opportunity to get a little exercise and celebrate bicycling for recreation and as a way to replace automobile trips for commuting to work, school and other short trips.

For a number of years now, Chandler has been investing in infrastructure improvements that accommodate or encourage bicycling and has been recognized as a Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists.

We recently constructed bike/pedestrian crossing signals at several arterial streets along our Paseo Trail in southeast Chandler and along our Western Canal Shared-Use Path in north Chandler. We also completed in November a major street reconstruction project near our mall at Chandler Boulevard and Price Road that added bike lanes beneath the Loop 101 Price Freeway.

In addition, construction has begun on a bike/pedestrian bridge that will cross the Price Freeway at Galveston Street, north of Chandler Blvd. This bridge will link bicycle paths on collector streets on both sides of the freeway, allowing for more access to parks, schools, employment and shopping centers. The project is administered and managed by the Arizona Department of Transportation and funded by a federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) grant.

Bicyclists also are taking advantage of Chandler’s Park & Ride lot adjacent to Tumbleweed Park. Bike riders can connect to an Express Bus which leaves from the lot each weekday morning and travel to downtown Phoenix or catch the LINK bus which runs every day and travels along Arizona Avenue/Country Club Drive to connect to light rail. Riders can utilize the bike lockers at the lot or the bike racks on the bus.

Chandler also is involved in regional efforts to improve conditions for bicycling. City transit planners are participating in a Maricopa Association of Government’s Bicycle Counts project that will collect bicycle counts at a number of locations throughout the valley to better understand how bike routes and facilities are performing, what patterns exist, why trips are made and whether safety improvements are needed.

With the support of its citizens, Chandler will continue to develop the city’s bicycle system while striving to provide maximum safety, convenience, and comfort for bicyclists of all ages.

By Sean Ahern, Economic Development Manager

This month’s focus for the city of Flagstaff’s Economic Vitality Division is economic development. The economic development program is housed in Community Investment and staff is located at City Hall. Community Investment along with the Flagstaff Pulliam Airport and Convention and Visitors Bureau make up the “business outreach side” of city hall, and are all economic drivers for our community. Economic development staff’s primary focus is to retain and strengthen existing businesses, while helping to grow and attract new, innovative businesses for our community’s economic health and sustainability.

On a national level, the competition for jobs has never been more competitive. Many traditional regional employment opportunities have declined in the past decade due to outsourcing, technology and changing consumer habits. Historically, California has been the place for innovation and business growth California’s innovative businesses well trained and educated workforce, progressive college system, and access to global transportation hubs have created tremendous wealth, jobs and successful businesses throughout the Golden State. Fast forward to today when the business climate in California has become increasingly unfriendly with increased taxes, aging infrastructure and stiff regulation making many business owners consider relocating to a more business friendly state. As taxes, regulation and costs have increased in California, so has the competition from surrounding western states to attract California businesses to their respective states.

Texas, Utah, Nevada and Arizona compete daily on attracting California businesses to their state. Additionally, a number of multi-national and east coast companies wish to locate their expansion operations in affordable states neighboring California because of the high costs associated with California. Businesses with these needs play a very important role in Arizona’s attraction efforts because of our proximity to California, talented workforce, available land, access to markets and overall business friendly environment.

In Flagstaff, city economic development staff work closely with the Arizona Commerce Authority and our regional partner the Economic Collaborative of Northern Arizona (ECoNA), to market and attract businesses to the greater Flagstaff area. Flagstaff has always had an identity problem in clearly articulating perception versus reality with business owners and investors outside of Northern Arizona.  Flagstaff is often thought of as a sleepy, mountain town with little in the way of commerce and innovation. The city and its partners are working hard to change that image while supporting responsible growth; through a new imaging campaign, using market analysis tools to statistically show the power of our market, offering site tours to business owners interested in learning more about Flagstaff’s business climate and increasing connectivity with key stakeholders across the region.

Recently, the city worked with ECoNA’s business attraction team to attract and eventually locate IML to Flagstaff. IML is a multi-national plastic manufacturer who was interested in expanding to the west coast. The city of Flagstaff competed against 10 cities for IML’s business; ultimately the city of Flagstaff prevailed as IML’s choice because of our proximity to California, workforce, quality of life and professional response to IML’s needs during the selection process. Currently the city is working on a number of potential locates that would provide high wage low impact jobs to the community, many of these coming from California.

Flagstaff is the economic engine of northern Arizona, and attracting new businesses is only part of the economic cycle. Retaining, expanding and supporting the needs of existing businesses are extremely important in protecting our local economy and financial security. Our neighboring states are not only looking to California for new businesses, they are also looking at Arizona companies. Recently Flagstaff lost Southwest Windpower, and their high paying engineering and manufacturing jobs to Colorado. Protecting and growing established industries and providing assistance to newly established companies is where the economic development staff spends a great deal of time.

Staff provides assistance to local businesses through a number of channels. Recently a “business assistance kiosk” was developed at City Hall that provides: one-on-one needs analysis, planning and design review, incentive and grant overview, market and demographic analysis, workforce and business advocacy.

A great example of the advocacy and assistance that is provided to the community is the recent receipt of a $100,000 rural grant award from the Arizona Commerce Authority for the continued expansion of Joy Cone, a low impact high wage employer. Joy Cone came to the city with a need to expand their operations by decommissioning their aging incinerator and building an additional batter room that would require five new employees. Joy Cone is leveraging the $100,000 rural grant from the Arizona Commerce Authority with $900,000 of their own capital for a $1 million dollar expansion project. This is the third year in a row that the city of Flagstaff has successfully partnered, assisted and managed the rural grant program with T-Gen North, Machine Solutions and Joy Cone.

As business advocates the city’s economic development team help a number of businesses with everything from custom one-on-one needs analysis assistance to helping established businesses navigate city hall. Visit us online at cityofinnovation.com to learn more about our services for the entire business community.

By Curt Woody, Economic Development Manager

The town of Marana adopted its strategic plan in 2008 and updated it in March 2012 to provide Town Council and staff with a guiding document and flexible tool to lead and promote innovative thinking. The strategic plan provides initiatives and action strategies that challenge us to find specific ways to attract and maintain career-oriented commerce. The town implemented two policies in 2012 that reflected those initiatives. The first was a joint venture between the Marana Chamber of Commerce and town management to collaborate on a business retention program that involved onsite contacts with more than 600 businesses. These businesses were surveyed to identify the positive and negative aspects of conducting business within the town. The sign code ordinance was identified as an area that needed improvement. As a result, there are portions of the code that are being revised.

The Marana Job Creation Incentive Program was the second policy adopted to address the economic development initiatives. Originally approved in 2010, the program was revised and reintroduced last November. Reducing the requirements from a $2 million investment and 25 new jobs to a $1 million investment and 10 new jobs (salary of $40,000 a year or more) broadened the scope of the program. The company may apply for rebate of the construction sales tax generated by this investment to be spent on any number of six elements identified within the program.

The town of Marana strives to create and identify best practices that complement the guiding principles within our strategic plan. This culture of excellence is prevalent in all departments and aspects of the town’s goals.

Great article on how the city of Phoenix is utilizing volunteers and engaging the community in its sustainability efforts.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/20130504phoenix-mayor-stanton-cool-roofs-initiative.html

http://youtu.be/c-EJgfrTmTo

By City of Chandler Staff

The city of Chandler is developing a niche in the tech industry, and is laser-focused on the jobs those businesses bring to the community. During his State of the City address, Mayor Jay Tibshraeny announced that the city’s 2012 economic development efforts attracted, created or retained 3,600 jobs; the second highest number in the city’s history.

The city acts as a strategic partner with businesses, setting the stage for Chandler to lure such industry giants as the General Motors Innovation Center, Intel, ebay/PayPal and Infusionsoft. Chandler is earning increased recognition for the Price Corridor, a premier employment corridor with the infrastructure, workforce, open space and amenities that creative, high-tech companies require. Also, housing stock ranging from urban apartments to traditional neighborhoods and agrarian settings give companies a broad range of choices for their employees.

Chandler was recently named 4th in the country in startups per capita and has a broad strategy to nurture small business success. The city developed the Innovations Science & Technology incubator, and has partnered with Gangplank, a collaborative workspace in Downtown Chandler. In addition, TechShop is scheduled to open this fall in partnership with ASU’s Chandler Innovation Center, an engineering and technology-based education and research hub. TechShop is part of the entrepreneurial movement to allow individuals and early stage companies access to specialized equipment to further their product and design prototypes. The partnership will give students from ASU’s College of Technology and Innovation the ability to see their education in action, and bring up to 1,000 people to the city’s already vibrant Downtown.

By Doreen Cott, Economic Development Director

Over the last several months, Queen Creek residents have probably noticed increased construction and traffic in the community. With the installment of both medical and higher education facilities and future plans for additional restaurants and entertainment venues, the town is expected to see continued growth over the next few years.

Banner Health Center Queen Creek’s 21,000-square-foot building opened May 1, offering a mix of primary care services for everyone in the family. The future Communiversity @ Queen Creek, officially broke ground in January and will soon be home to students from universities and community colleges around the state earning certificates and/or associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Already this year, the town has seen a spike in the number of building permits for single-family homes, an indication that the demand for additional dining and service businesses will also increase. Queen Creek’s Town Center encompasses 900 acres of commercial, entertainment and housing options, and staff is proactively working to attract uses for 20 acres of town-owned property in Town Center as well as other available sites. A hotel is also a priority for economic development to accommodate the thousands of people who visit Horseshoe Park & Equestrian Centre and the other destinations in the community each year. It was also recently announced that both Maya Cinemas and Harkins Theaters have plans to develop movie theaters, and Smashburger will soon be joining the restaurant mix at Queen Creek Marketplace along with In-N-Out Burger coming in 2014.

In January, Queen Creek’s business incubator, QC Inc., opened the doors to its permanent location in the Queen Creek Municipal Complex. This facility offers affordable space, business counseling, networking opportunities and extensive training to assist small businesses and entrepreneurs as they expand and grow in the community.

Queen Creek’s future is bright, and with the town’s Economic Development Strategic Plan firmly in place, the community has established its priorities and is actively working to make them a reality.