Use the slider on the interactive map to compare Maricopa’s growth over the past 20 years. 

Way back in 2005, John Mayer was winning Grammys. Revenge of the Sith pulled the biggest box office. A new website called YouTube launched.

In rural Pinal County, down a two-lane highway, was a newly incorporated City called Maricopa. The city held its first Salsa festival, which brought in 600 people. City leaders gave Governor Janet Napolitano the key to the city. The city’s first public park, Pacana Park, opened.

Also, in that year, the city’s first Vision for Maricopa for 2025 was released.  

It was a 20-year vision statement for the city of Maricopa. It was created by the Maricopa General Plan Citizens Advisory Committee with input from citizens and city leaders received during a March 2005 public workshop.  

We have officially reached the year of what those original Maricopa residents hoped this town would be. Here is what that 2005 vision saw:  

“Our Vision for the Year 2025: The City of Maricopa is known as “a place with a heart” and a conscience for taking care of its people, its land, and all our community resources. Maricopa offers educational excellence; is family-oriented with safe neighborhoods and diverse, recreational and cultural opportunities. The City is a unique community with a small-town feel, agricultural roots and western heritage. Employment and business opportunities in Maricopa have been supported, maintained and expanded.” 

So, did we do it? We reached out to four city leaders and longtime residents to weigh in.

Here is what they told us today:

Kelly Anderson, Maricopa Chamber of Commerce executive director

Our city has grown and changed so much in the last 20 years, it’s almost hard to imagine where we were then as we look back from today. In the last 20 years there have been many new recreational and cultural events and opportunities that have come to our City, but there is always room for more! I would love to see more our agricultural roots and western heritage brought back to mainstream. I would agree that we have expanded employment and business opportunities as well, especially considering the incredible number of locally and family owned businesses that we enjoy here in Maricopa.

We are fortunate to live in a community where our neighbors are generally neighborly and when there is a need we come together (despite what we may post on Facebook).  The General Plan Citizens Advisory Committee did a wonderful job explaining the vision 20 years ago, and I don’t think the heart of that vision has changed in its essence.  What has changed is the way we now define many of these things, and who holds responsibility for accomplishing them. I love Maricopa.  I am proud of our community and our businesses.  I look forward to seeing and experiencing the future as we continue to grow and prosper.

Christian Price, chief economic development officer and former mayor of Maricopa 

Looking at the initial vision session from 2005 is encouraging. It’s a window into what we were thinking at that time and estimated what might transpire if we worked hard enough at it. These visioning sessions can really help guide us. But visioning sessions are like Living Trusts. They are documents that are meant to ebb and flow and change as the realities of life and desires of the people that have them created, also change.

As I look at this visioning session a few key things pop out at me as real success stories:
Maricopa offers educational excellence – Maricopa educational scene is a vastly different landscape than it was in 2005. Now with numerous charter schools, an ever growing and excelling Maricopa Unified School District, Central Arizona College campus and the U of A MAC Farms project engaging in various educational expansion ideas, this ideal is coming to pass right before our eyes.

Is family-oriented – We have but to look at the numerous events and activities held and Pacana Park and Copper Sky that didn’t even exist in 2005 to see this happening.

With safe neighborhoods and diverse, recreational and cultural opportunities – Each of these in their own right have increased immeasurably since 2005. We are one of the State’s most diverse cities, as well as, we are in the top 5 for safest cities in the state and our ever increasing recreational and cultural experiences are more robust each year!

Business opportunities in Maricopa have been expanded – Businesses continue to flourish here in the city, from start-ups to small to midsize businesses are locating here and provide much needed goods and services to our citizens. And on the cusp are large scale business and industrial opportunities that will be arriving here shortly.

We have come a long way since 2005, and we still have a long way to go, but that is what makes this journey fun, the goals, the failures, the successes in building a city from scratch!

Maricopa Mayor Nancy Smith

Maricopa has grown tremendously since 2005, but the heart of our community remains the same. Residents continue to tell me that they love living in Maricopa because it is family-oriented with events like the recent Copa Cultural Night Market and so many other opportunities.

The vision outlined in 2005 reflected our commitment to building a strong, connected, and thriving city—and I believe we have stayed true to that. While we’ve made incredible progress in areas like economic development, infrastructure, and quality of life, we know more work is yet to be done. We are always looking ahead to ensure Maricopa remains a place where people want to live, work, and raise their families.

Longtime Maricopa resident, farmer and businessowner Tena Dugan

I appreciate how much our city has grown over the past 20 years, and I recognize that any place experiencing such rapid development can naturally stray from its original vision. However, it feels like we may have lost some focus on embracing family-oriented values and offering diverse recreational and cultural opportunities. In pursuing multi-family housing, it seems we placed the responsibility for community support more on residents than on the city itself—something that goes against the initial aspirations.

On a positive note, the city has made progress in creating new employment and business opportunities, though the emphasis appears to be on larger franchises rather than on nurturing smaller, local ventures. Looking ahead to 2045, I hope we can strengthen our focus on infrastructure, particularly within city limits, and continue collaborating with all stakeholders responsible for the roads leading into and out of Maricopa.

Most importantly, I hope we keep building our sense of community as we grow. People need to feel that their voices matter, and greater transparency from our leaders will go a long way toward fostering trust and ensuring Maricopa remains a place where everyone feels welcome and included.