Bob Christie Capitol Media Services PHOENIX — A state senator pushing a major overhaul of city zoning rules he contends will spur construction of more affordable housing has reached a deal on a slimmed-down plan with the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, whose opposition had halted the effort for the past six months.Phoenix Republican Sen. Steve Kaiser says the most contentious parts of his initial proposal are now gone.
Cities were briefed Thursday and Friday on the bill's final language, and Ponder said he had their OK to negotiate directly with Kaiser. Whether they all agree or there is pushback will have to wait until Monday, when Kaiser said the House plans to amend existing bills with the deal's language.Tucson, for example, has adopted zoning allowing detached auxiliary dwelling units to be built alongside existing single-family homes.
"And I think in light of the water announcement that came out last week, this is exactly what we should be focusing on, because we're not talking about massive subdivisions here,'' he said."We're talking about filling in our existing metro areas, cities and towns, using our lands efficiently.'' Kozachik said the parts that differ from city policy, like how large auxiliary dwelling units can be, is not so major that it will harm neighborhoods.
And there are a couple of provisions unrelated to zoning. One gives Arizona residents priority for subsidized housing vouchers over out-of-state residents, some of whom have been state-shopping for open program slots and displacing local residents. Cities agreeing to override own zoning lawsAt least part of the reason for the apparent acquiescence of cities to overriding their own zoning and building ordinances is political.
It failed in the Senate on a bipartisan vote in February, but Kaiser revived it after breaking it into parts and ditching some provisions. Still, it stalled, awaiting negotiations that could get the cities on board. "What we didn’t want is a six-story ADU that overlooks a neighbor’s backyard,'' Ponder said."I think that should alleviate the concerns of multiple accessory dwelling units on any single property and turning what was a single-family area into multi-family.''