Buckeye staff seek council input on draft Housing Action Plan to guide growth

City of Buckeye staff and their consultants presented a draft Housing Action Plan at the Sept. 16 council workshop and asked the City Council for feedback on the policy directions and implementation priorities that will guide housing decisions as the city continues to grow.

The plan, which staff said is required by the state and was funded with a Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) grant, pairs a quantitative housing needs assessment with a community engagement effort and an implementation roadmap. “We are working on the housing action plan, which is our road map for how Buckeye will be addressing the housing needs now and into the future,” Andrea Marquez, senior finalist development services, told the council.

The draft identifies Buckeye as one of the nation’s fastest-growing communities and notes the city’s current housing stock is dominated by detached single-family homes; staff and consultants said the plan is intended to expand the policy tools the city can use to encourage a broader mix of housing types and support long-term livability. “This is grant funded through MAG,” Lainie Corey, planner with Matrix, said, describing the project’s funding and regional coordination. Council members and staff emphasized the plan is advisory and will not itself change zoning or directly rezone properties; staff said the final plan will…