Peoria staff outline state-mandated "middle housing" changes, warn of loss of local controls if deadline missed

Peoria planning staff told the Planning and Zoning Commission on Sept. 18 that state legislation called out in meeting materials as “house bill 27 21” requires the city to permit certain “middle housing” types — duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and townhouses — on qualifying single-family lots by Jan. 1, 2026, and that the law leaves little local discretion. Planning Director Hawkes and staff member Elias Valencia led the study-session presentation and answered commissioners’ questions.

The item matters because staff said the bill is largely preemptive: if Peoria does not adopt compliant code language by the 2026 deadline, the law could allow middle housing on every single-family lot in the city without the local controls the city now applies, staff said. That could remove the city’s ability to require setbacks, height limits, parking above the statutory minimum, or other design controls that currently shape neighborhoods.

Staff summarized the bill’s two main applicability scenarios. First, the statute requires jurisdictions with populations of 75,000 or more (including Peoria) to allow middle housing as a permitted use on lots zoned single-family within a one-mile radius of the city’s…