SRP Forum

Panel Sees Bright Future for East Valley Sustainability, Development

Sustainability is not just about electric cars, solar panels and recycling. In Mesa, sustainability encompasses a vast range of concerns, extending from education to economic development and public health.

Source: East Valley Tribune

City of Mesa Development Services Director Christine Zielonka addressed the subject as part of a four-person expert panel at the SRP 2017 Forum, which focused on sustainability and development in the East Valley. Salt River Project hosted the event along with the East Valley Partnership.

The panel also included Steve Betts, senior advisor to the Holualoa Companies and Hines Development; Marc Campbell, manager, Sustainability Policy and Programs at Salt River Project; and Steve Sossaman of Sossaman Farms.

Zielonka focused her opening remarks on city leadership’s top-down approach to developing a resilient economy that can help sustainability grow over time. She noted that getting residents to buy into the program is imperative, though the biggest challenge comes from the development community.

“One of our biggest challenges … is getting developers to get on board with the concept of a more resilient economy,” Zielonka said.

She went on to discuss the ways the city has attempted for the past decade to attract jobs to help residents avoid long commutes to other cities for work and has had difficulties bringing developer partners to the table.

Betts, an experienced developer, agreed. However, he does see this paradigm shifting in the post-recession economy as developers rethink their standard economic model to focus less on home building and “building outward” and directing more resources toward infill development, building inward and upward and creating walkable urban spaces.

“This (recession) was different,” Betts said. “I think this one was so severe, and for Arizona and the Valley it was so severe, that it caused all of us to rethink a little bit how we grow and how we build.”

Infill projects provide a variety of advantages for developers and communities. Namely, they take advantage of existing infrastructure at a time when developers do not have the funds to build new infrastructure, Betts said.

Grady Gammage Jr., who delivered the event’s keynote address and moderated the panel, asked how cities like Mesa can deal with “shopping centers that are dying” as a result of many forms of retail moving to the Internet.

“I think you get really creative and really flexible,” Zielonka said. “You find ways, not necessarily just by putting money on the table, to incentivize the reuse of those buildings.”

Those methods include revisiting building codes to remove or modify prohibitive regulations. The city worked with Ross, Dollar General and other retailers that will occupy the old Kmart building at Main and Lindsay Streets to develop a phased-in approach to some improvements to avoid prohibitive costs that could have doomed the deal. Mesa City Council recently approved a development agreement for that site.

Two major examples of adaptive reuse success in Mesa are Santander and Benedictine University. Santander occupies a once-empty big box store on Southern Avenue. The company revamped the interior and made façade improvements to convert the space to support office operations.

Benedictine University worked with the city to completely revamp the former South Side Hospital site. Since that time, the campus has exceeded growth projections and is looking for additional space, Zielonka said.

In what could become the city’s most dynamic infill project, the Fiesta Mall site recently sold to Dimension Financial & Realty Investments, which plans to redevelop the space into a higher-education space complete with housing, food and retail options to support the potential influx of students.

Another way the city attracts business is focusing on the “quality and speed” of how business gets done, Zielonka said. One example of this is the city’s interactions with Apple, which chose to turn its 1.3-million-square-foot facility on the Elliot Road Technology Corridor into a global command center after the previous tenant, an Apple supplier, went out of business.

Apple chose to continue working with Mesa, in part due to ease of doing business with the city, Zielonka said. For instance, Mesa allowed Apple to start a phased occupancy of the facility while it continued to make upgrades to the building.

Despite the buy-in from city leadership and SRP, the city faces challenges. One such barrier is education.

“The thing I get pushback on a lot is our education system,” Betts said. “They keep hearing a lot about the fact that we’re down here at 48th or 49th (ranked) in terms of our education system, so I oftentimes have to defend that.”

Betts went on to note that industry professionals he interacts with are impressed by Arizona’s university and community college systems.

Still, Zielonka recognizes that Mesa must show prospective employers that there is a political commitment to education in Arizona.

“When you look at high-tech companies, they want high-tech kids,” Zielonka said.

In addition to education, jobs and development, Zielonka also made a point to signal public health as a key cog in Mesa’s sustainable development. She emphasized the need to create recreational spaces for residents and promote healthy living.

“How do you provide those opportunities for people to have a healthy lifestyle – to have healthy air, to have clean water?” Zielonka said.

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SRP Forum | PHX East Valley Economic Sustainability

Join us on Tuesday, May 23rd at the Phoenix Marriott Tempe at the Buttes for the 2017 SRP Forum focused on Sustainability in the PHX East Valley. We are excited to welcome keynote speaker, Grady Gammage, Jr., as he will address insight from his newly released book “The Future of the Suburban City. Lessons from Sustaining Phoenix”.

The event will also feature a panel of regional sustainability and development experts:

  • Steve Sossaman, Sossaman Farms, nationally recognized for his cutting edge work with technology, heritage farming and the contributions farmers make in protecting the environment while at the same time creating a sustainable future.
  • Christine Zielonka, City of Mesa, has been creating solutions between residents, business owners and city officials for more than a decade.
  • Steve Betts, Senior Advisor to the Holualoa Companies and Hines Development, with expertise in economic sustainability, talent pipeline, importance of diverse economy, land development/real estate development.
  • Marc Campbell, Salt River Project, has been with SRP for the past 19 years and currently manages the Sustainability Policy & Programs Department.

Event Details

2017 SRP Forum | Sustainability in the PHX East Valley

Tuesday, May 23, 2017
Phoenix Marriott Tempe at the Buttes | 2000 W Westcourt Way, Tempe

11:30 AM – Event Registration

NOON – Lunch & Program

12:15 PM – Keynote Remarks

12:45 PM – Panel Discussion

1:15 PM – Expected Program End

Register Online Today!

Registration Deadline: Tuesday, May 16, 2017

 

2014 SRP Forum to feature gubernatorial candidates on economic development issues

Details were announced this week for the 2014 SRP Forum event, an annual collaboration between East Valley Partnership and SRP to stimulate thought about how we grow and collaborate for the betterment of our area and state.

This year’s Forum event will feature two of the final candidates for Governor of Arizona, as determined by the August 26 primary election. The final Democratic and Republican candidates will join us on Wednesday, September 10 at Chandler Center for the Arts to discuss economic development issues facing our state.

EVP extends its appreciation to long-time title sponsor SRP, as well as The Arizona Republic & Channel 12-KPNX, who will moderate and broadcast the program.

For more information on the event, click here to download the invitation flyer & registration form (PDF).

Media coverage of “PHX East Valley” announcement

A sampling of coverage by East Valley and Phoenix Metro media outlets, reacting to last week’s “Phx East Valley” naming announcement:

http://eastvalleytribune.com/columns/east_valley_voices/article_a9981cb6-d3c4-11e2-b47a-0019bb2963f4.html

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2013/06/12/east-valley-partnership-rolls-out-new.html

http://www.azcentral.com/community/mesa/articles/20130611e-valley-hitches-wagon-phx.html?nclick_check=1

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/money/article_95335f0e-d3b7-11e2-b075-0019bb2963f4.html

SRP Forum event materials now available

Not able to join us at last week’s SRP Forum: East Valley Evolved? Or just looking to re-watch the video presentation? Either way, check out our Resources page for a PDF download of the research presented during the event, and a link to watch our PHX East Valley video.