A new city policy could make it easier for smaller businesses to build in Maricopa.

City council members unanimously voted April 21 to pass a new “scallop” ordinance that would allow the city to build street and infrastructure improvements, giving property owners a chance to pay their share later instead of upfront.

Development Services Director Rudy Lopez said the intent is to help “small, localized projects” alleviate the financial burden from any one business. To date, the process required the first builder on a piece of land to incur the full cost of improvements, even if other projects benefit from them.

That’s great for a big box store like Home Depot, but less so for a smaller business looking to establish a presence in Maricopa.

“This is another tool to our development services toolbox with small, localized projects … to make sure that we do have proper improvements being done when development is occurring,” Lopez said.

This new ordinance would allow that cost to be split between the businesses building on a parcel and repaid to the city within 10 years through a lien on the property.

Cities like Peoria have adopted similar approaches over the years, allowing the city government to front the cost of infrastructure improvements and recovering the cost later.

In Maricopa, the ordinance will be used on a case-by-case basis, Bitter said. He added this will be used “largely for projects where, for example, [Development Services] can’t get the property owner to agree to develop this property” due to costs.

Council members pointed to a recent example where improvement expenses deterred one business from building in Maricopa sooner than later: Zzeek’s Pizza.

After spending nearly 1.5 years planning to build a restaurant in the city, the owners told InMaricopa the cost to bring water, power and service, as well as road improvements, would have added another $1 million to their project. That led them to pull the plug on the project, at least temporarily.

Mayor Nancy Smith recalled a conversation with City Manager Ben Bitter that spurred the idea.

“I said, ‘What tools do we need to add that makes this a little easier for small businesses?’ And [Bitter] shared with me immediately the scallop ordinance … It’s a very good tool for our council to have,” she said.

The ordinance will become effective May 21.