A message from Interim Town Manager Terry Rozema, originally published by Tucson Local Media.

It’s a new year, and the Town of Marana has much to look back on and be thankful for. Despite the hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic, Town staff finished 2020 with dedication and resiliency, maintaining a balanced budget while delivering the essential services that Marana residents have come to expect.

Our major accomplishments include projects that set the Marana community and infrastructure up for success. The Marana Regional Airport letter of map revision and land rezone initiative removed the airport from the flood plain, resulting in a greater potential for future growth and commercial interest. The construction of the Picture Rock and Airline/Lambert water treatment campuses serving Continental Reserve and Saguaro Bloom neighborhoods comes to an end with a tentative grand opening planned for February 2021. We also dedicated time to helping our businesses in need and developed the “Marana Matters” small business assistance program, which aims to reimburse qualifying businesses for past or ongoing expenses related to the mitigation of the spread of COVID-19. Businesses can begin applying for the program on Feb. 1. Visit MaranaAZ.gov for more information on how to qualify.

Now, with the start of the new year, we continue to look to the future and build on our current momentum.

The Parks and Recreation Master Plan process comes to end on Feb. 2 when it goes before Town Council for adoption. This extensive process took inventory of the current park system resources and considered feedback from organizational leaders and the community in order to chart a course for park system development. As part of the process, members of the public had a chance to review and comment during the last 30 days. Thank you to those who contributed. Your voice is important in creating your future community.

The Land Development Code draft will be available for review by the end of February, with a formal adoption in April or May of this year. This years-long process sought to clean-up the existing document to guide future development and redevelopment within Marana while preserving our quality of life, and will further set the Town up for strategic growth.

At the Marana Regional Airport, we eagerly await the construction of a control tower. The Air Traffic Control Tower (ATCT) Project has completed an environmental assessment of the construction site and a professional architectural and engineering assessment for the planning, design, and construction of the control tower. We hope to conduct the control tower siting study this year to determine where on the airport property the tower will be built and ensure that the site aligns with the airport’s vision of the future, and look to 2024 for the construction to take place. The FAA will fund 91.06% of the project and 100% of the labor costs, while the Town of Marana and the Arizona Department of Transportation will each fund a 4.47% share.

To ensure Marana’s continued development, staff now looks to revisit the Town of Marana Strategic Plan. This planning document has been updated several times since its creation in 2008 to best reflect the goals of the community. Now, the 2021 update will establish our vision as an organization committed to providing exceptional public service, supporting a climate for economic sustainability and maintaining a welcoming environment that makes Marana a 5-star service organization. We show this through financial sustainability, quality public service, strategic partnerships and local resource investment, as well as initiatives promoting growth and development that make Marana an ideal place for people to live, work, and play.

There’s more to look forward to this year, and this is just the beginning. I’m excited to see what 2021 brings us.