The Times this week continues a new series exploring the various stages of a town’s life and examining just where Fountain Hills is headed.

Prior to incorporation and for some time after, a series of “town halls” were held to gauge what people were thinking and what direction they wanted to pursue as a community.

For most of the 1990s the new Town of Fountain Hills was guided by principles set forth from citizens in the late 1980s and into the ‘90s.

Such things as dissolving the Road Districts, paving local streets and starting up a parks system were deemed important.

Planning and zoning issues along with police protection/code enforcement were also seen as broad areas needing attention.

A series of financial issues and political upheavals soon took grip, however, and the town was getting to the point where simple town hall meetings weren’t enough to accommodate the diverse population.

After Wally Nichols defeated then Mayor Jon Beydler in a recall election, the new mayor put into motion over the next five years a new type of forward thinking – strategic planning.

That process culminated with the Town Council adopting a Strategic Plan and implementing over the next two years a series of recommendations in the document.

A Strategic Plan Advisory Commission has been put in place to track the plan, but things can change quickly – the economy, gas prices, the construction industry, real estate sales, a developer’s tenuous plans.

Voters this past spring rejected a property tax, so what does that mean for our future?

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It would appear that the community of Fountain Hills is transitioning somewhere between its childhood stage of rapid growth to “Stage 3,” or young adulthood and struggling to find an identity.

Fountain Hills, as envisioned by its original developers, was never meant to be a “bedroom community.”

The community was relatively isolated in its early stages from metropolitan Phoenix, but within 20 to 25 years the Valley of the Sun spread its sunshine closer and closer to the Hills.

Original community developer McCulloch Properties built in an industrial park, a “downtown” zoning district and pockets of neighborhood commercial zoning all over town to help create that “self contained” city.

But the community has not really “filled in” according to that original plan, and the original buildout population of 75,000 has been scaled back to perhaps around 35,000.

The industrial park was chopped down and much of it converted to residential; high density multi-family parcels were “down zoned” to single-family neighborhoods; and even some commercial land was changed to homes and condominiums.

Many “working people” commute to the Valley for their white collar jobs. And, as many local business owners are aware, plenty of residents still shop and “play” in Mesa, Scottsdale, Tempe, Phoenix and beyond.

Identifying needs

Leadership in Fountain Hills has been aware, almost since incorporation, that as the community matured things would change with regard to how government identifies needs and provides services.

As the town remained growing and healthy through the ‘90s there was no urgency to address where the revenues would come from and how they would be spent.

More recently, however, the town is feeling the aches and pains of maturity and growth as a heretofore economic engine is sputtering.

During the five years of Mayor Wally Nichols’ administration the focus was on preparing for tomorrow as well as meeting the needs of today.

“As we have grown to a more mature community we have become a community that cherishes planning,” Nichols said recently, after leaving office.

“We are working to identify potential problems and issues for the future, and making plans to address those rather than being reactive when the time comes.”

In 2005 the town went through a citizen-driven strategic planning process. The goal was to look ahead and learn from the people what their vision for Fountain Hills was and how they wanted government to play a role in creating that vision.

The town leaders took that plan and began to implement several basic initiatives, but were very aware that citizens’ indicated they are generally unwilling to foot the bill for big-ticket projects or amenities.

That was emphasized earlier this year (2008) when voters overwhelmingly rejected a ballot proposal to levy a $4.5 million property tax.

Like all citizens across the state and the nation, Fountain Hills residents are feeling the pinch of difficult economic times. This is the residue of a bursting housing bubble that chilled the economy like a bucket of cold ice water.

Nichols understands that people find it difficult to contribute more to government spending when there is very little extra for their own needs.

However, he said it can be difficult for the town to prioritize its needs, figuring out where to cut – is it going to be youth programs or senior programs?

“People will not step up to the plate until such time as they hurt,” Nichols said. “The state has a $2 billion deficit, and it will affect shared revenues with communities and will really have an impact.

“We tried to wake people up to that. Our fire service was paying for itself; the council did away with that without good planning.”

Jerry Butler, retired civil engineer, volunteered through the strategic planning process and served on the Strategic Planning Commission and headed the Revenue Solutions Committee that recommended a property tax for revenue generation.

“The way the state is set up the revenue hinges on future growth,” Butler said. “It is based on construction and building permits.

“When construction slows down, so does everything else. When building slows down there is nothing (revenue) to maintain the infrastructure.

“Until the people feel the pain and it hits them, they won’t react. It’s all speculation until it hits me.”

“Fountain Hills is in a situation where there is a transient population.”

Butler thinks a growing percentage of the population is becoming winter visitors. Also, many professionals might move here, only to be transferred elsewhere within six to 12 months.

“This is not a business friendly situation and never will be,” he adds.

“You need to shop the businesses in Fountain Hills whenever you can.” 

SPAC later this year will be examining some of these issues, in light of the changing economy, and possibly come up with some suggestions for the Town Council.

Read the first article in the series:  New series: Where are we going?