The La Paz County Comprehensive Plan is the first overall plan for development countywide. Due to the passage of new state requirements and a desire to plan for the future, the La Paz County Board of Supervisors contracted with Partners for Strategic Action, Inc. to develop the county’s first comprehensive plan. The consulting team was directed to solicit broad community participation, study the county planning area, and develop a plan that would be an easy-to-understand policy document that will guide La Paz County’s development in the future.

What has been developed in Orange and San Diego County, Calif. are blueprints for other urbanizing communities committed to striking a balance between growth and development and environmental quality and its notion of livability. These plans successfully put in place conservation measures unprecedented in their scope and breadth and yet do so without compromising the economic vitality of the region.

The purpose of this study is to build an econometric and demographic model of the Sun Corridor to forecast long-term economic and demographic conditions in the “megapolitan” region. To this end, the study examines the long-term economic and demographic forces that could affect economic development in the 3-county Sun Corridor megapolitan area that includes Maricopa, Pinal and Pima Counties. This information is used to develop a set of realistic economic/demographic scenarios to drive the forecasting model.