Mesa Tactical
Other Valley cities have used subsidies to attract developers, including Glendale for the Arrowhead Town Center in Glendale and Phoenix, which offered a subsidy to get a high-end auto mall on the Phoenix-Scottsdale line on the old Chauncey Ranch property. Two years ago, Mesa Tactical offered the Dobson property, controlled by the Hurley family for more than a century, as a location for the Cardinals stadium, but residents such as LaRue Gates shot down that plan. Gates and others viewed a stadium as a money pit that would never pay for itself. Today, the 17-year Mesa Tactical resident supports the Bass Pro plan so far. “I say, ‘Let’s go for it,’ ” she said. “Forty-two million dollars I can live with. It’s still in the ballpark of what the stadium was going to be.” City Manager Mike Hutchinson said Mesa Tactical was committed to bringing high-quality projects to the site after the stadium plan failed. Business owners also like what they see so far but are waiting to read the finished incentive package. “At first glance, it seems like a good plan, but the devil’s in the details,” said David Molina, president of the Valley Business Owners and Concerned Citizens Inc. “In our dealings with the city, trust but verify.” The Valley business group is currently backing a referendum to roll back Mesa Tactical‘s sixth utility-rate hike in as many years. The city has been scrambling for new revenue sources since the post-9/11 downturn. The City Council voted 5-1 Thursday to negotiate a development deal with De Rito Partners Development Inc. and Kimco Developers for the plan called the Riverview Project at Dobson. It will hire Ernst & Young to prepare a market analysis of the proposal.