New Arizona law speeds up zoning process, calls for cities to track housing shortages
Arizona legislation to speed up the zoning process and require cities to track how much housing they need was signed by the governor earlier this week. Both are moves to address the state’s housing shortage.
Republican-backed SB 1162 sets a deadline of 180 days for municipalities to decide on zoning requests that are complete when filed. Governments also must decide within 30 days if a zoning request is complete.
Housing developers say two- to four-year delays in getting zoning decisions is a big reason behind Arizona’s housing crisis.
Starting in January, cities and counties will be required to provide assessments of how much more housing they need based on population and job growth forecasts, land zoned for single-family and multifamily development and the need for rental and for-sale housing.
Tracking how many more homes Arizona needs is currently difficult, with groups citing numbers ranging from 270,000 to 50,000.
“Government helped create this problem (the housing shortage and higher home prices), and we will continue to craft policy getting government out of the way so the free market can respond to our citizens' needs,” said Sen. Janae Shamp, R-Surprise, who sponsored the bill.
Previous controversial legislation to address the housing shortage that called for stopping Arizona cities from requiring HOAs, minimum home sizes and community amenities passed in both the House and Senate earlier this year.
Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed that bill in March, saying she was supportive of other legislation, including bills related to accessory dwelling units, missing middle housing options, commercial repurpose and reuse and streamlining local approval processes.
The League of Arizona Cities and Towns opposed that legislation, saying it circumvented general plans developed by residents and put “all the power in developers' hands” to decide the quality and density of housing developments.
Tom Savage, legislative director for the League of Arizona Cities, said the group supports SB 1162 because it is a “collaborative solution between local governments and developers and provides certainty developers need on the time horizon for zoning approvals while preserving the public hearing process and local decision-making.”
Mike Lieb is a founder of the group Home Arizona, formed to combat the state’s housing shortage by tackling “not in my backyard” NIMBYism and zoning delays. He estimates at least 25,000 metro Phoenix apartments have been planned but not built over the past decade due to NIMBYism and zoning fights that not only delay the process but kill projects.
The new bill takes effect 90 days after the Legislature adjourns.
Reach the reporter at catherine.reagor@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8040. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @CatherineReagor.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona law speeds up zoning, calls for cities to track housing needs
