Business View Civil and Municipal | June 2022

73 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 6 Center,” shares Gonzalez. “We want to provide job training programs for food bank customers, teaching skills aligning with local business needs. We’re even looking at partnering with Pima Community College to offer a Certified Nursing Assistant Program to better support our assisted living centers.” Offering workplace training also means providing adequate workforce housing, which many communities lack. Sahuarita is working on preventing this situation, by planning affordable workforce and multifamily housing. The Planning and Building Department has forecasted that the town’s population will increase from 35,000 to 41,000 over the next half decade. Last year, 559 home units were built, with an additional 442 so far in 2022. A new development off La Villita Road is slated to accommodate approximately 1,200 homes. “We’re moving quickly,” says Mayor Murphy. “It’s challenging offering a variety of price points other than the average $350, 000 dollars. Affordability is something we’ll be wrestling with in the future.” During the construction process, developers have partnered with local providers like Cox Communications and CenturyLink to equip new builds with broadband internet. There’s even a fiber line running along Interstate 19. Despite this, Mayor Murphy proclaims, “The town is always looking to improve service to help bridge the country’s digital divide. I used to think of infrastructure as just roads and water, but now it includes internet; all these services help a community grow and thrive.” Looking ahead three to five years, Dille believes a main goal is to continue preparing for Sahuarita’s fast-moving growth. He emphasizes, “We need to stay connected with our public, so we understand the will of the people and can incorporate that into our Master Planning efforts. We’re currently revamping our Economic Development Strategic Plan, because the one in place now is several years old. So, it’s once again time to speak with our residents and businesses to understand what is best for our future. It’s exciting to say the least; we’re proud of our community and what we’ve accomplished so far.” TOWN OF SAHUAR I TA , AR I ZONA