Planning commission initiates zoning text amendment to implement state adaptive‑reuse changes

The Scottsdale Planning Commission voted to initiate a zoning text amendment to implement recently enacted state provisions that affect adaptive reuse of commercial properties for multifamily residential use.

Planning staff said the effort follows state action that first created and later clarified rules for converting functionally obsolete commercial buildings to residential use. The commission voted to initiate the textual amendments so staff can prepare draft ordinance language and public outreach materials for subsequent hearings.

Planner Ryan (presenting) and other staff described the statute history for commissioners. “This initiation … started in 2024 with House Bill 2297,” staff said, recounting that the earlier legislation established objective criteria for conversions and restricted municipalities from requiring local public‑hearing processes for some conversions. Staff also said a more recent bill, recorded in the hearing as "House Bill 20 21 10," clarifies and modifies conversion calculations and changes how the city must count eligible parcels. Staff repeatedly noted the new statute carries an emergency clause imposing a procedural deadline for local code updates.

Staff told commissioners Scottsdale previously limited conversions conservatively (about 1% of commercial area) after internal analysis but that the new law changes the metric (from building area to parcel counts) and requires at least 10% conversion in applicable locations unless excluded by statutory exemptions. The statute exempts historic districts and properties in the immediate vicinity of airports and allows the city to protect up to 10% of commercial parcels as important commercial or employment hubs. Staff said the city will also apply sound‑level and other statutory exclusions.

Commissioners asked for clarification about statute language limiting how newly approved multifamily conversions can be used as the basis for future conversions; staff explained the provision is intended to prevent a chain of approvals that would allow successive sites to rely on earlier approvals to justify greater density. Commissioner Hertel asked whether other Arizona cities applied different percentages under the prior law; staff said some communities, such as Gilbert, had used a higher percentage (5%) and that Scottsdale’s original 1% choice arose from a city‑wide analysis.

The commission voted to initiate the text amendment so staff could prepare a draft implementing ordinance and public outreach. Staff said the deadline driven by the statute’s emergency clause requires code changes to be in place by early July and that staff is aiming to bring a draft back to the commission on May 28 and to City Council on or before June 24 to meet the statutory timeline.