2.1.2.d Current Growth Management Strategy

City and Village centered growth philosophy

The general plan’s principles are woven into the fabric of everything the city is striving to create a more attractive and sustainable global city. These principles underpin the City’s decision to embark on its village strategy and are the
platform upon which the Surprise General Plan 2030 will be built and delivered.

The village strategy is about adding to what people love about their neighborhood, while at the same time ensuring special characteristics are enhanced and preserved. One of the main goals of the village strategy is to ensure that long term objectives of the city meet community and business needs and enhance the local environment. Villages are also intended to have more co-operation and partnerships between the different tiers of government, between businesses and government, and between residents, institutions, and government. Villages will enable the city to deliver services more equitably, pursue a development pattern that is environmentally and economically sound and provide better means of managing growth and change through extensive collaboration with the community.

In addition the villages strategy will focus growth into mixed-use activity centers that are pedestrian-friendly, centers of community, and linked to the regional transit system. The strategy draws upon the strengths of Surprise’s natural environment, neighborhoods, commercial centers, institutions, and employment centers. The strategy focuses on the long term economic, environmental, and social health of the city and its many communities. It recognizes the value of Surprise’s distinctive neighborhoods and open spaces that together form the city as a whole.

What is a “Village”?

A “village” is defined as a neighborhood that draws upon the strengths of the existing characteristics of the area, with a defined and highly intense multi use center. The village center will be the heart of the community where residential, commercial, employment, and civic uses are all present and integrated. Each village will be unique to the community in which it is located. Villages will be planned to have a pedestrian friendly environment and characterized by inviting, and attractive streets and public spaces. These high quality destination spaces will vary from village to
 
village and may consist of public parks or plazas, meeting spaces, outdoor gathering spaces, passive or active open space areas that contain desirable landscape and streetscape design amenities, or outdoor dining and market activities. Individual villages will offer a variety of housing types and rents/prices. Over time, villages will be increasingly connected to each other by an expanded regional transit system. The village land use pattern and densities help make transit operate more efficiently, which in turn allows for improved and more cost effective transit services. The mix of land uses should also include needed public facilities such as schools, libraries, or other community facilities as appropriate in each community.

Implementation of the village strategy relies upon the designation and development of village sites (Map 2.1B). There are many factors to consider when designating village sites including the capacity for growth, existing and future public facilities, transportation options, community character, and environmental constraints. Precise village boundaries, the specific mix of uses, architectural form, needed public facilities, and the type of public space within proposed village areas will be determined through community plan updates or amendments. Other factors to consider when locating village sites include: community plan-identified capacity for growth, existing public facilities or an identified funding source for facilities, existing or an identified funding source for transit service, community character, and environmental constraints.

Growth Areas:

With a planning area of approximately 309 square miles, growth has the ability to occur at many levels and in many directions. Growth areas are not static. They are prone to change due to outside influences such as market conditions and specific city needs. The city growth areas Map 2.1C defines areas where growth is highly likely to occur. The areas are categorized by the type of development that may occur.

Centers and Corridors:

Implementation of the village strategy relies upon the designation and development of village sites. The hierarchy of centers is described on the next page.