A bipartisan group of state lawmakers advanced a measure on Monday that would preempt Arizona cities from blocking housing projects based on aesthetic preferences like the color of the walls or the slant of the roof.
The bill gives developers and homebuilders the power to design homes with more freedom over style.
Because the bill would eliminate requirements for developments to have certain features like patios or screen walls, proponents argue eliminating those mandates will make homes cheaper to build and have a positive effect on housing affordability.
Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert) said consumers appreciate having more choices.
“What we have seen as this has come in, you’ve literally seen cities that start looking monolithic. Everything starts looking exactly the same because they’re all following the same design standards,” Petersen told his colleagues.
The bill also faces bipartisan opposition.
Opponents argue the bill would allow for eyesores to pollute nice-looking residential communities by doing away with important housing standards.
“You could end up with somebody beside you or across the street from you that doesn’t really fit the mold of the community,” Sen. Vince Leach (R-Tucson) said of the proposal in a committee hearing.
Opponents are also skeptical that the legislation will substantially lower housing prices. Even if they’re cheaper to build, Sen. Brian Fernandez (D-Yuma) said he doubts those savings would trickle down to the homeowners.
“People will have cheaper looking houses, I just don’t think they’re going to have cheaper houses,” he said.
Sen. Analise Ortiz (D-Phoenix) pushed back on those concerns.
She said the bill won’t have an impact on existing neighborhoods. She noted that for anyone who likes the look of existing “cookie cutter” neighborhoods, there are plenty of them out there to rent or buy.
“Nobody is forcing you to live in a particular type of home,” she said.
The bill narrowly passed out of the Senate.
It was poised to fail, but a handful of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle made a last-minute plea to their colleagues to change their minds.
“Maybe I don't want a gray house with a blue top. My house is beige with a green top. That's the choice that I want. I don't want somebody coming along and saying I gotta have the same old boring concrete wall as all of my neighbors,” Hatathlie told her colleagues.
A group of lawmakers switched their “no” votes to “yeses,” allowing the bill to pass.
“That’s one of the first times in a long time I’ve seen that,” Sen. T.J. Shope (R-Coolidge) said of the last-minute shift.
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Cities and towns across Arizona would lose the ability to regulate some aspects of home design — both inside and out — under a bill scheduled to come up for debate in the state Senate on Monday. -
House Bill 2325, which was sponsored by a Republican, was sidelined after Rep. Jeff Weninger, who chairs the House Commerce Committee, decided not to give it a hearing. -
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes settled a lawsuit as part of her crackdown on rental price fixing. The settlement is with one of the largest landlords in the state. -
Aging in Arizona isn’t cheap, but still less than the national median. On average, Arizonans will shell out about $4,800 a month for assisted living and $5,400 for memory care. -
A lawsuit brought by homebuilders to invalidate actions by the state’s water department was back in court on Friday. The outcome of the case could upend the state’s entire groundwater protection framework.
