Sierra Vista council to consider 2025 Landry Prosper plan after members ask to reinsert Fort Huachuca

City staff presented a revised 2025 version of the Landry Prosper economic development framework and said the council will consider adopting the plan at its Thursday meeting after a small amendment was requested.

The plan, presented by Tim Boone, staff member, lays out five primary objectives including entrepreneurship and business engagement, sports tourism, awareness of Sierra Vista, workforce partnerships and leveraging the municipal spaceport. Boone said the plan ties to earlier work by the Economic Development Commission and regional partners and will guide city outreach and investment over the next 18 to 24 months.

"This 1 tied back into things such as the West End, entrepreneurship, and clearly modifying from the first 1 to the second 1, really, the refinement on the municipal airport as we look at the spaceport," Boone said during the presentation.

Council members praised the entrepreneurship and business-retention emphasis but several said they wanted Fort Huachuca referenced explicitly in the document. An unnamed councilmember said Fort Huachuca is "our bread and butter" and asked that the installation be woven into the plan rather than only implied.

Boone said the omission was intentional because the commission saw support for the fort reflected across actions and objectives; he offered to restore that objective if the council preferred. "If the consensus of counsel is that objective, broad scope, I can add that 1 back into the 2025 version, and we can continue to work on the sub objectives between now and Thursday," Boone said. Council direction at the meeting was to add Fort Huachuca back into the plan and bring a revised draft for the council vote.

The plan also describes pursuing a Part 433 license for the spaceport (as presented) and pursuing acquisition and environmental work on roughly 203 acres with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to enable non-DoD missions and future development. Staff said considerable infrastructure investment and developer recruitment would be needed to translate land acquisition into jobs.

Boone identified workforce partners under discussion, including Arizona State University, the University of Arizona and Cochise College, and said the city is talking with industry partners to support spaceport-related activity.

The council did not vote on the plan during the work session; it is scheduled for a formal vote at the next regular meeting after staff incorporates the requested language about Fort Huachuca.

The presentation also referenced other economic-development efforts: a business incubator relationship with the University of Arizona Center for Innovation, the Skylands Regional Partnership'led pitch contests, and regional tourism partnerships including the Southern Arizona Sports, Tourism and Film Authority.

If approved, staff said the plan will guide the city's investment priorities and partnerships for the coming two years and will inform related budget decisions and outreach efforts.