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.

This Existing Conditions Report is the first major technical product of the General Plan Update process. It describes the current conditions in the City of Casa Grande and identifies preliminary issues relevant to the update of the 2020 General Plan update. This report details conditions specific to Casa Grande in the areas of locational context, demographics, housing and economic development, land use, historic preservation, transportation, environment and water and wastewater. The information provided in this Existing Conditions Report is intended to provide a basis for community discussions that will inform the City of Casa Grande General Plan Update 2020.

Four major statewide "tools" to help manage growth and preserve open space have been put to work in Arizona over the past five years. These include the Arizona Preserve Initiative and the closely-related Proposition 303, as well as the Growing Smarter Act and its "addendum," Growing Smarter Plus. All four tools are based in large part on a concept known as "smart growth," which is generally considered to be a set of growth management measures that attempt to strike a balance among issues of economics, environment, and quality of life. Taken together, these four growth management tools make significant changes in the way that (a) city and county governments plan and regulate their lands, (b) citizens play a role in land use issues, (c) state trust lands are managed, and (d) open space may be acquired and preserved. Many of these changes will have long-term effects for the state. This paper provides a brief overview of each of the four growth management/open space tools, a preliminary accounting of major activities each one has stimulated, and a perspective on what can be expected for the future as expressed by a selection of growth planners and other leaders of growth management in Arizona.