Protected Natural Desert Environment

Featured Project: Growing Smarter

Description
Planning for long-term prosperity and continued high quality of life are leading objectives of the Growing Smarter project. The project is the city's response to the 1998 state-mandated Growing Smarter Act, which strengthens the ability of Arizona communities to comprehensively address growth and related issues. For instance, the Act strengthens local planning efforts by requiring strategies for acquiring and preserving open space, maintaining and revitalizing neighborhoods, identifying environmental impacts of growth, identifying growth areas, and developing mechanisms that require development to offset the costs of the impact. The city seeks to achieve these objectives by developing policies that promote development, redevelopment and reinvestment in all areas of the city. These development policies are balanced with policies that address the need for regional interconnected open space as well as preservation of desert space and parklands within the city.

Key Features

• Growing Smarter project is the city's response to the state's Growing Smarter Act
• Goal is to comprehensively address growth, including preserving open space
• Growing Smarter offers the community a chance to apply many of the Livable Tucson Goals to a specific planning action

Partners
A multi-departmental task force, including representatives from the Office of the City Manager, Tucson Water, Transportation, Finance, Budget & Research, Community Services, Police, and Planning are preparing the initial data gathering and preparation to begin the project. Other departments, such as Fire, Library, Solid Waste Management, and Operations are also providing input.

Impact
Growing Smarter provides matching funds to be used to purchase State Trust lands that have been designated as appropriate for open space land. Trust lands purchased with Growing Smarter funds are to be preserved as open space. Currently, the city is cooperating with Pima County to purchase 320 acres of Trust land adjacent to Tumamoc Hill. The opportunity for designation of additional Trust lands within the city is limited; however, the Arizona Legislature has recently passed legislation that may expand opportunities for future preservation efforts.

For more information about Growing Smarter, contact Michael Wyneken, 791-4505, mwyneke1@ci.tucson.az.us

• A-7 (Bellota) Ranch ï Northside District Park, a passive natural resources park
• Case Natural Resources Park

Goal Indicator definition for this project.