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(Sub)urban sprawl This map shows which neighborhoods will be annexed into the city
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W Peters & Nall Road
BY MONICA D. SPENCER
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DEVELOPMENTS
promises of a future firehouse. It will collect money from the other pre-annexation neighborhoods once they become populated. Law enforcement remains under the jurisdiction of the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, which struggles with coverage due to limited staffing across a vast territory. “An unknown number of deputies patrol all of western Pinal County,” said PCSO spokesperson Sam Salzwedel when asked for the exact number of deputies assigned to Maricopa’s rural neighborhoods. Vitiello said annexation into Maricopa might sound appealing to newcomers, but for the county’s long-term planning goals and the needs of rural residents, it would be the wrong move. “The people I’ve been talking to just want smart, sensible, sustainable growth,” he said — growth that respects the rural fabric of the area and maintains extremely low residential density. He contrasted that vision with San Tan Valley, an unincorporated community on the county’s east side that exploded during the 2000s housing boom. That surge, he said, came without city infrastructure to support it — and the consequences remain today. “If [developers] built what they have planned today, you could have 50,000 more homes, if not more,” Vitiello said. “How are we going to get all those people over the bridge? How are we going to get them down to [State Route] 347?” With commercial development and the city’s long-promised industrial park still years away, the push to annex and expand comes amid lingering infrastructure and traffic concerns. “We just can’t have another San Tan Valley,” Vitiello warned of the community that will vote next month whether to replace Maricopa as Pinal County’s most populous incorporated city, population 110,000. Today, Maricopa holds the designation and only stands to continue its sharp growth trajectory. Together, the rural property owners’ agreements represent nearly 6,000 acres of land that stand to be annexed into the city. Once the annexations are complete, Maricopa proper will be 20% bigger than it is today, although its planning area extends as far south as Interstate 8, still 9½ miles south of the southernmost pre- annexation neighborhood.
EARLY AFTER Maricopa approved a sweeping set of pre-annexation agreements for subdivisions in Hidden Valley and THREE YEARS
1. Amarillo Creek
W Val Vista Road
Thunderbird Farms, a slow-burning land shift is beginning to flare south of the city. Where stretches of untouched desert and scattered ranchettes once sat, developers are now clearing ground for thousands of homes — and with them, a push for annexation into city limits. Under the agreements, subdivisions will be formally annexed into Maricopa once they reach 51% occupancy. That threshold is getting closer in Amarillo Creek, the first of more than a dozen planned developments to welcome residents after the first homes were completed in 2023. It’s currently the only subdivision approaching the benchmark. But while annexation may bring perks — better access to fire and police services among them — many longtime residents say they want no part of it. “No,” was the blunt answer from Pinal County Supervisor Rich Vitiello when asked if rural homeowners support joining the city. Vitiello, who lives in Cobblestone Farms and represents District 1, which includes Maricopa and its rural outskirts, said his constituents value space, silence and self-reliance. “They want to be left alone,” he said. “The people who bought land out there 20, 30 or 40 years ago, they deserve to keep their rural area.” Those values are echoed in Pinal County’s 2019 Comprehensive Plan, which identified “open space, rural atmosphere and natural beauty” as top priorities for unincorporated communities like Hidden Valley. Infill development and annexation, opponents argue, threaten to erase those qualities in favor of dense tract housing. The opposition was on full display in May when Rio Blanco Ranch, a proposed 77-acre subdivision off Warren Road, faced heavy backlash during a county Planning & Zoning Commission meeting. The developer’s bid to rezone the land for smaller lots was rejected after dozens of residents voiced concerns about overdevelopment, traffic and water use. The South Maricopa Fire Association, which is not a fire department but a homeowners association, currently collects money from Amarillo Creek. Residents in that neighborhood are already paying more than $1,000 a year for emergency services and
2. Palomino Ranch
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3. Venida
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4. Sunset Canyon
W Teel Road
5. Rio Blanco Ranch
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6. Tresano
7. McLean Ranch
W Miller Road
8. Pecan Woods
1 3
9. Hidden Valley Ranch
10. Midway
W Barnes Road
11. Sienna
12. Maricopa Opus
1 1
13. Terraza
Developments in bold have pre- annexation agreements with the city
If [developers] built what they have planned today, you could have 50,000 more homes, if not more. How are we going to get all those people over the bridge? How are we going to get them down to [State Route] 347?” RICH VITIELLO, PINAL COUNTY SUPERVISOR
InMaricopa.com | July 2025
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