This plan responds to key trends, emerging issues, and community visions and goals. The Plan includes strategies and actions for the years 2020 and 2040 to address identified transportation needs, while being sensitive to possible future funding constraints. This Final Report provides an overview of both the study effort and the work products developed throughout the planning process, which forms the basis for the final plan recommendations. The planning process analyzed the existing transportation system, land use and socioeconomic conditions within the study area; conducted in-depth local stakeholder interviews; developed future growth projections; provided opportunities for public input; and included an evaluation of alternative future solutions.

This Land Use Survey, conducted for the Cochise County Planning Department, was designed to elicit citizen opinions about the future pattern of growth in Cochise County and land use issues in areas outside of City limits. This project is an initial step in the County’s "Envision 2020: Land Use Planning in Cochise County" process, developed to measure citizen opinions on how growth is currently managed in the County and how to manage future growth.

The CAPER report represents a collaborative effort between the Arizona Department of Housing and the Arizona Department of Economic Security. This document outlines the State’s affordable housing and community development resources, their methods of distribution, geographic funding objectives, and actions by the State to meet those objectives during the past fiscal year.

In fiscal year 2012, St. David Unified School District’s student achievement was much higher than peer districts’, on average, and the District was reasonably efficient in most operational areas. The District’s administrative costs were much lower than peer districts’, but the District lacked sufficient accounting and computer controls. The District’s plant operations and transportation program were reasonably efficient overall. However, the District needs to accurately determine and report to the Arizona Department of Education its bus ridership information to help ensure the District is properly funded and to allow it the ability to calculate and monitor rider-based transportation performance measures. The District’s food service program was inefficient, with a cost per meal that was much higher than the peer districts’ average primarily because of overstaffing and inefficient purchasing practices. As a result, the District spent $44,110 of its Maintenance and Operation Fund monies to subsidize the program.

This report summarizes the results of an economic impact analysis of the Rosemont Copper Project, an open-pit mining operation to be developed on a 15,000 acre site in Pima County about 30 miles southeast of Tucson. The analysis employed the REMI PI+ regional economic forecasting model to estimate the economic impacts of the Project for the Cochise/Pima County/Santa Cruz Counties study area, for the State of Arizona, and for the United States.

Housing plays a major role in the United States and Arizona economies. It is estimated that the housing industry accounts for one-fifth of our nation’s Gross Domestic Product. Despite the economic importance of housing, Arizona did not have a comprehensive approach or strategy for dealing with housing policy issues. In 1994, a Housing Summit addressed increasing concerns about the cost of housing. Participants from across the state met to discuss growing housing needs. A major outcome of the summit was the formation of the Affordable Housing Task Force, designed to review the state’s housing market and suggest ways the state could address housing affordability. Its principal recommendation was the creation of a permanent body that would focus attention on workable housing solutions. The Arizona Housing Commission was created by Executive Order in 1996 to serve as an advisory body to the Governor, the Legislature and the Arizona Department of Commerce, which is the primary agency currently responsible for housing programs. In 1997, the passage of House Bill 2011 formally established the Commission in statute.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires all government entities receiving federal low-income housing and community development funds to prepare an Annual Action Plan. This is a one-year plan to address the low-income housing and community development needs in the state of Arizona, with a special focus on serving the small cities and rural areas of the state. It consolidates the planning, application, and funding requirements for several programs funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: Community Development Block Grant; HOME Investment Partnerships Program; Emergency Solutions Grant; and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS. The federal and state-funded housing and community development projects and programs described within the Action Plan are administered and implemented by ADOH, the Arizona Department of Economic Security, units of local or regional government, or non-profit agencies.

This report includes both housing data and policy recommendations which are meant to stimulate debate and provide a menu of options for policy makers and intends to fulfill the following goals:
• Provide information on key socioeconomic trends which affect housing affordability including population
growth, household formation, age distribution and income growth.
• Communicate information on housing market trends including home ownership rates, rent levels and vacancy rates, home sales prices and new construction activity.
• Analyze cost components of typical new single-family housing and multifamily construction in Arizona.
• Identify potential regulatory and policy barriers to housing affordability.
• Recommend leadership and resource policies that will avert a potential housing crisis and improve housing affordability across the state.