Former Surprise Mayor Joan Shafer dies

Former Surprise Mayor Joan Shafer, who presided as head of the City Council as the West Valley city saw unprecedented growth, died Monday morning. She was 80.

Shafer, who ended her 16 years on the council Dec. 31 and decided not to seek a new four-year term as mayor, helped take Surprise from a community of roughly 7,000 residents to one of more than 100,000 in moves that spurred residential and business growth.

"Joan Shafer had a vision for Surprise as a thriving city where people could live, work and play, and she had that vision for all her years on the council," said Carefree Partners President Rick West, whose company formed a public/private partnership on development of the City at Surprise project near Bell and Litchfield Roads. "She will be missed."

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Shafer was elected to the City Council in 1990 and became the city's first publicly elected mayor in 1994.

With the city's growth, Shafer's tenure heralded in a sea of rooftops followed by expanded commercial development. In the late 1990s, she fought for a piece of Phoenix-owned land that eventually would house the city's spring training stadium and serve as Surprise's downtown area.

That partnership also yielded the Carefree Partners development, which calls for millions of square feet of development surrounding the city's infrastructure.

Surprise communications director Ken Lynch said Shafer's legacy as mayor is tied into a host of projects both planned and under way, including municipal complexes, spring training baseball facilities and Prasada, a Westcor-planned project along Loop 303 south of Greenway Road, which will sport a regional shopping center, employment and health uses, and more homes.

"She was here when the development just went crazy," Lynch said.

The widow of a Phoenix firefighter, she fought for better state benefits for firefighters in the Arizona Legislature. At various points during her tenure, she was cheered and reviled, surviving several recall attempts.

The vision of the Shafer-led council will continue unfolding for years to come.

Scott Phillips, vice president of Carefree Partners and a former city planner for Surprise, said Shafer helped define the area as it grew.

Shafer is survived by two children and five grandchildren. No funeral arrangements have been announced, according to the city.