By Lee Cooley, Scottsdale REALTORS®
At the November 25th City Council meeting, Scottsdale Planning & Development Area Manager Brad Carr recommended adopting a Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Text Amendment to comply with House Bill 2720, which was signed into law by Governor Hobbs and goes into effect on January 1st, 2025.
Councilmember Whitehead posed a theoretical question to Carr about the new ADU law. “An investor can now purchase an equestrian property, put three homes where there was one, and not reside even in one of the homes or even the same town. Is that correct?”
Carr confirmed that would only be the case if none of the units were used as short-term rentals.
Councilmember Janik objected to HB2720’s amendment A.R.S § 9-461.18.8.D. which states in part that A MUNICIPALITY MAY NOT REQUIRE AN ACCESSORY DWELLING UNIT TO COMPLY WITH A COMMERCIAL BUILDING CODE OR CONTAIN A FIRE SPRINKLER.
“If a city already has a code requirement for sprinkler systems,” said Janik, “the ADU should have to follow that code as well.”
Despite concerns over state overreach, Scottsdale City Council voted unanimously to adopt Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Text Amendment (4-TA-2024). The city’s approach to establishing qualifications for ADUs is as follows:
- Location – must be located on a single-family residential lot
- Utilities – must have separately-metered utilities
- Ownership – cannot be sold separately from the main residence
- Renting – owner of an ADU used as vacation or short-term rental is required to reside on (the) property
- Subdivision – property cannot be subdivided to create a lot for an ADU
- Infrastructure – ensure sufficient water supply and sewer capacity
- Density – 1 attached, 1 detached, 1 restricted-affordable ADU for lots one acre or larger
- Size – 1 on lot can be up to 75% of main residence or 1,000 s.f., whichever is less; all others limited to 500 s.f. or less
- Occupancy – total occupancy of the main residence and any ADUs on the lot cannot exceed 6 adults…
- Parking – must maintain code-minimum parking required for main residence at all times
- Private outdoor living space – at least 50 s.f. in size
- Building height – maximum is the same as underlying zoning district
- Building setbacks – generally the same as underlying zoning district, except ADU in rear yard can be located up to 5 feet from property lines
- Access – separate exterior entrance from main residence and a path of travel to a street
- Addressing – provide a unique address and display address in a way that is visible to main street frontage
Earlier in this same meeting, Mayor Ortega referenced a letter from Arizona House Majority Leader Leo Biasiucci (Dist. 30) who voiced “serious concerns” about Scottsdale’s Adaptive Reuse & Development Application Determination Text Amendment (which council unanimously approved), citing Overreach in Airport Vicinity Exemptions.
The adopted ADU Text Amendment also includes identical Airport Exclusions.
Related: Scottsdale reluctantly passes housing laws but makes tweaks