This Arizona city asked Defense Department to oppose Arizona Starter Homes Act

Why would the military get involved in blocking a bipartisan housing bill in Arizona?

That is the question our KJZZ Politics Desk is asking. And to understand it, let's take a trip back to last legislative session, when a bipartisan group of Arizona lawmakers came together to pass a controversial bill aimed at easing the state's housing crisis, dubbed the Arizona Starter Homes Act.

It would have barred cities from rejecting housing development for a host of reasons like objections to aesthetic designs. Proponents said it would have made starter homes more affordable for first-time buyers and increased the state's housing supply, which is far short of where it needs to be. But the cities didn't like it because it preempted local control and they lobbied hard against the bill.

Gov. Katie Hobbs agreed and vetoed it, calling it a step too far. But there was one thing she cited in her veto letter that caught some reporters’ attention: the Department of Defense's concerns about the bill. They had contacted her office as the bill was on her desk, expressing their opposition.

Camyrn Sanchez with KJZZ’s Politics Desk joined The Show to explain.

Conversation highlights

So let's start with what Hobbs said in that veto letter. What were the DOD’s concerns about this bill?

CAMRYN SANCHEZ: Well, in her veto letter, she was saying, I don't want to put, you know, military installations or fire public safety in any danger through a bill by, you know, allowing it to potentially encroach on their area. Now, of course, the proponents of the bill say that's a ridiculous concern because it doesn't do that. But that was definitely part of her reasoning.

It was like the second paragraph of her veto letter dedicated to that. And it's unusual to see the Department of Defense, you know, come and, and stick its nose in Arizona state legislative politics and say we don't like this particular bill, you know. Typically that's not what's on their radar.

The Atlantic first reported new information this week about who expressed the concerns and who brought it to Hobbs.

SANCHEZ: So the who done it has finally been solved, and it's exactly who you thought it would be, which is the cities of, you know, Arizona who opposed these housing bills from the get go and the Starter Homes Act in particular. And so it was the city of Glendale, apparently who reached out to the DOD, according to the DOD. And they said, hey, this bill, the Arizona Starter Homes Act would be a huge problem for us.

And they cited, it looks like the Luke Air Force military base in Glendale. And said, you know, this, this would encroach on that and it would be bad for the military and for public safety and you guys should help us put a stop to it essentially. And they did.

So why would Glendale ask the military to get involved here? How did Luke Air Force Base come into play here?

SANCHEZ: I think it was just something to cite. They also mentioned Yuma, but Glendale sending out the letter makes sense because it's the home to that thing and they had to have something. And the League of Cities and Towns is pretty well coordinated. They all came together and said this is a priority in terms of we need to get this thing killed. How are we going to do it? And they did a lot of things to make sure that happened, but this was one of them.

What did Hobbs have to say about this?

SANCHEZ: Well, the governor’s spokesperson said they were not aware that Glendale had requested this from the Department of Defense. So I guess it had been a mystery for them as well as to like how this chain of events occurred.

Have we ever seen this reasoning to object to housing developments or regulations before?

SANCHEZ: Sure. I mean, if you're opposed to it, you can find any good reason. And right now you're seeing the city of Scottsdale talking about how they're going to prevent other housing legislation from affecting them.

So, the state Legislature and Hobbs worked together last year and actually did pass two housing bills. And that was the Arizona accessory dwelling units bill. And the other one is the missing middle bill, which allows for more duplexes, triplexes, etc.

So Scottsdale is now saying that they want to amend how they do zoning to prevent essentially those laws from being able to take effect in the vast majority of Scottsdale and they've carved out this big section, that's what they say is close to Sky Harbor. And I know that Sky Harbor is not in Scottsdale, but they're saying, oh, well, it's in proximity to Sky Harbor still.

And so we can't, we can't build these new types of affordable housing that are close to Sky Harbor, within like several miles. And also there's a part of the bill that says HOAs don't have, have to implement. So in the parts of Scottsdale that are left out, it still wouldn't be able to go into effect there because of all the HOAs.

What did the Scottsdale mayor have to say about this?

SANCHEZ: Yeah, we texted. Mayor David Ortega was saying, well, you know, we don't like it and we are all scrambling to, to figure out a way to deal with it, but no, they, they don't want it. And he said that it is an issue of zoning and preemption. He sees these bills as the Legislature going too far and preempted cities from what's in their own right to do, which is their own kind of zoning and how they want to build housing or not build it.

So looking at what the DOD did here, what Glendale asked and now what's happening in Scottsdale, what did proponents of the Starter Homes Act have to say about why this bill was killed?

SANCHEZ: They weren't surprised, but they said it was a poison pill. So I talked to lobbyist Jake Hinman, who has been a proponent of all of these housing bills for the past few years at the state Legislature. He said, no, this is an excuse. And if Glendale had gotten some sort of language in the Arizona Starter Homes Act that said this doesn't apply to the Luke area, the military area, you know, that's totally safe from that. It wouldn't have gotten them on board because it was just an excuse to try to kill the bill. It wouldn't have gotten the League of Cities and Towns on board. It was a poison pill.

Are we seeing other cities right now try to stop or get out of the regulations from the bills that were passed?

SANCHEZ: I expect so. Yeah. And I expect that the Arizona Starter Homes Act or some version of it will come back at the ledge next year.