This update comes at a critical time in the history of Casa Grande. The City has experienced significant change since the 2001 adoption of the Casa Grande General Plan 2010. City limits have expanded and new development has come forward at a rapid pace. These changes raise pertinent questions about how the City can and should accommodate the cycle of development over the next 10, 20, and even 30 years.

Construction of a habitat restoration project in the Salt River will begin in the spring of 2000 which will transform the riverbed to provide a variety of amenities including recreation opportunities, improved flood management, riparian vegetation and wildlife habitat. The Beyond the Tanks area surrounds the Rio Salado project and is bounded by I-17 to the north, 32nd Street to the east, Broadway Road to the south and 19th Avenue to the west. The committee has adopted the name "Village at Rio Salado" for this area but will be referred to as "Beyond the Banks" in this report.

The city of Phoenix Planning Department was asked to prepare a land use plan to identify goals and policies to guide development decisions for an area beyond the banks of the Salt River and to complement the Phoenix Rio Salado Habitat Restoration Project (Rio Salado Project). In response, the Planning Department initiated a five-phase planning process to develop an area plan. The resulting plan builds on the community's vision of how the area will develop in the future and identifies the steps needed to make that vision a reality.