Assigned to RAGE FOR COMMITTEE
ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Seventh Legislature, First Regular Session
FACT SHEET FOR S.B. 1529
municipal housing; preapproval design
Purpose
Requires municipalities to establish standard preapproved housing design plans.
Background
Statute requires each municipality's planning agency and governing body to prepare and
adopt, in coordination with the Arizona State Land Department, a comprehensive, long-range
general plan for the development of the municipality. The general plan must include a statement
of community goals and development policies, including maps and plan proposals. After a
municipality has adopted a general plan, or plan amendment, the planning agency must investigate
and make recommendations to the governing body for putting into effect the general plan in order
for it to serve as a pattern and guide for the orderly growth and development of the municipality.
The measures recommended may include plans, regulations, financial reports and capital budgets.
The planning agency may, and if so directed by the governing body must, prepare specific plans
based on the general plan and drafts of such regulations, programs and legislation as may be
required for the systematic execution of the general plan, including zoning ordinances and
subdivision regulations (A.R.S. §§ 9-461.05; 9-461.07; and 9-461.08).
Municipalities are authorized to adopt zoning ordinances and codes to conserve and
promote the public health, safety, convenience and general welfare. A municipality may:
1) regulate the use of buildings, structures and land between agriculture residence, industry and
business; 2) regulate the location, height, bulk, number of stories and size of buildings and
structures, the size and use of lots, yards, courts and other open spaces, the percentage of a lot that
may be occupied by a building or structure, access to incident solar energy and the intensity of
land use; 3) establish requirements for off-street parking and loading; 4) establish and maintain
building setback lines; and 5) establish floodplain and age-specific community zoning districts and
districts of historical significance (A.R.S. § 9-462.01).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this
legislation.
Provisions
1. Requires a municipality to establish standard preapproved housing design plans.
2. Requires the standard preapproved housing design plans developed by the municipality to
include at least three different elevation options for each class of standard preapproved housing
design plan. FACT SHEET
S.B. 1529
Page 2
3. Requires a municipality to create four classes of the standard preapproved housing design plans
as follows:
a) for class 1, at least three standard preapproved housing design plans for single-family
homes ranging in size from 800 square feet to 2,000 square feet per single-family house in
areas zoned as single-family residential;
b) for class 2, at least three standard preapproved housing design plans for duplex homes
ranging in size from 400 square feet to 1,000 square feet per duplex unit in areas zoned as
single-family residential and allows for the development of duplexes;
c) for class 3, at least three standard design plans for triplex homes ranging in size from 400
square feet to 1,000 square feet per triplex unit in areas zoned as single-family residential
and allows for the development of triplexes; and
d) for class 4, at least three standard preapproved housing design plans for accessory dwelling
units (ADUs) ranging in size to include the minimum and maximum square footage
allowed by the municipality in areas zoned as single-family residential and allows for the
development of ADUs.
4. Defines ADU as a self-contained living unit that is on the same lot or parcel as a single-family
dwelling of greater square footage than the accessory dwelling unit, that includes its own
sleeping and sanitation facilities and that may include its own kitchen facilities.
5. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Research
February 14, 2025
JT/ci