Building an economic engine
Goodyear's business corridor key

Christine L. Romero
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 8, 2003 12:00 AM

Goodyear's hopes of becoming more than a bedroom community rest on plans for a 10-square-mile economic corridor.

Officials want the proposed 4,000-square-foot business park to help drive southwest Valley economic development and lure new industries, including biotechnology, high-tech, financial and office services. The corridor is centered on Phoenix-Goodyear Municipal Airport off Litchfield Road south of Interstate 10, stretching from McDowell Road to Southern Avenue.

The planned Goodyear project would be nearly 70 percent larger than Scottsdale Airpark, a major economic driver of the northeast Valley that houses about 30,000 workers.

"It's not that we want to be a Scottsdale Airpark," Brian Dalke, Goodyear economic development director, said at a public meeting. "We want to have our own identity."

Goodyear's employment is growing at a 16 percent annual clip. The southwest Valley is a prime area of affordable housing stock.

"We get one chance to make sure we build our community right," Goodyear Vice Mayor Seth Kanter said. "We need to have a good job base to support the people who live here."

Kanter said the city would have to be mindful of residential growth slated for north and southwest of the airport.

Nearly 40 Arizona State University planning and architecture graduate and undergraduate students are working on the blueprint of the development with Goodyear.

The city held a meeting in late February seeking public input. Another public meeting is slated for Thursday. The ASU findings will be presented to the City Council later this month. The student blueprint is expected to be finished in May.

Part of the plan is to encompass the regional mall Westcor is considering building in Goodyear.

The focal point will be the airport, which if included would add 5 square miles to the business park. The airport recently landed new tenant North Carolina-based Timco Aviation Services Inc., a maintenance-repair company that is poised to bring up to 700 jobs to the airport.

Anne Quigley, manager of the Phoenix-Goodyear Municipal Airport, said the airport can help drive an economic hub because "it does attract business and corporate aviation, and that is something that businesses and industries find very attractive in a potential location."

Joochul Kim, associate professor in ASU's College of Architecture, said the students are mulling over the possibility of runway expansion, a commercial-retail area and land use.

Dalke said the students plan to compare two other regional airports and pull successful ideas from those.

Initially, many people suggested industries such as food processing plants, but officials are looking to industries that could yield higher-paying jobs. Dalke said the city wants the employment corridor to be a self-sufficient area.

Access from I-10 probably will be important to the project's success. Many business officials look to the half-cent sales tax bill making its way through the Legislature to help improve the freeways and accommodate growth.

Reach the reporter at christine.romero@arizonarepublic.com.