A harmful bill is going to a vote on Wednesday, Feb. 8 in the Senate Commerce Committee that would largely take away zoning rights for our city neighborhoods, prohibiting cities from enforcing SINGLE-FAMILY ZONING regulations and oversight in the State of Arizona.

Not only will the strike-everything amendment to this bill, Senate Bill 1117, greatly affect our city and your neighborhood, it will eliminate your right to any notice or public input, requiring the city to administratively approve multifamily projects where they were never intended. This bill’s original language was completely replaced with this harmful language with a change called a strike-everything amendment or a striker.

That’s why I’m asking that you contact State Senators to STOP this bill that is going to be heard in the House Commerce Committee Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 9 a.m.

Senate Bill 1117 proposes harmful language:

- Contradicts and ignores the city’s voter-approved General Plan
- Mandates that buildings be allowed in neighborhoods that do not follow the code, permitting, design, spacing and building height requirements
- Requires that cities allow construction of multi-unit complexes on single-family neighborhood lots with no parking considerations or standard reviews or the involvement of Tempe Boards or Commissions and their public processes
- Mandates that the city allow requested setbacks, building height and lot coverage—the bill language allows building height in neighborhoods to be as tall as the tallest building within a 1-mile distance (this comparison height could be from a hotel, office building or residential complex)
- State preemption on the regulation of short-term rentals could reduce the number of affordable housing units because these “by-right” constructed houses and multiplexes can be built as short-term rentals
- These preemptions do not factor in the capacity or needed investments of roads, water, sewer, waste collection and other services that are needed components for smart development

The City of Tempe continues efforts to advance affordable housing in the city. This bill does not include any guaranteed affordable housing or offer tools to enhance the city’s work to create sustained affordable housing for Tempe residents.

Our homes are the largest investment that many people make, and the proliferation of short-term rental investor properties have impacted homeowner property rights and property values.

We’ve worked hard to make our neighborhoods safe and clean places to live and raise a family. This bill takes away zoning tools approved by Tempe residents and this proposal would further add to the proliferation of the investor-owned businesses in residential neighborhoods.

Your opinion matters. Legislators will be voting on SB 1117 on Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 9 a.m.

Please consider emailing or phoning the Arizona Senators that make up the Commerce Committee:
Sen. Steve Kaiser (Chair), [email protected] 602-926-3314
Sen. Frank Carroll (Vice-Chair), [email protected] 602-926-3249
Sen. Theresa Hatathlie, [email protected] 602-926-5160
Sen. Anna Hernandez, [email protected] 602-926-3492 
Sen. Anthony Kern, [email protected] 602-926-3497
Sen. J.D. Mesnard, [email protected] 602-926-4481
Sen. Catherine Miranda, [email protected] 602-926-3413

The striker text of SB 1117 can be found here. The agenda for the committee can be found here.

Thank you for all you do to make your neighborhood and our community great,

Corey D. Woods
Mayor
City of Tempe

If you would like updates on bills that the City of Tempe is following at the Legislature, sign up for the Elections and Legislative Alerts e-notifications under the “Tempe City Hall” section at https://email.tempe.gov/news.   

Policy changes at the state level can affect the resources, activities and operations in Tempe so it’s important to stay informed. For more information, visit the Government Relations webpage at tempe.gov/GovernmentRelations and the City Council Weekly Information Packet here.