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Casa Grande staff pauses proposed zoning-code changes after state House Bill 2447 becomes law
Summary
Planning staff paused code amendments intended to increase administrative review and a new citizen review chapter after staff determined House Bill 2447 (HB 2447) — which requires certain administrative reviews without public hearings — may change what the city can lawfully require to go to public hearing.
Paul Theis, Director, briefed the City Council on a suite of zoning code text amendments staff had drafted to streamline development review, expand early public engagement and move some smaller projects to administrative review. "The objective of these amendments was enhancing public engagement and expanding public engagement, increasing efficiency and effectiveness of the development review process," Theis said.
Staff said the changes included a new Chapter 17.66 (Citizen Review Process), a rewrite of Chapter 17.68 (administrative procedures), revised conditional-use and permitted-use tables, and specific measures such as allowing certain small commercial or multi‑family projects (for example, buildings up to about 16,000 square feet and triplex/fourplex housing products) to be reviewed administratively with appeal rights. Theis said the amendments would have required neighborhood meetings at the preapplication stage, mandatory public notice at internal review and improved signage and digital notices.
Why it matters: on the heels of drafting these changes, the governor signed House Bill 2447, which Theis said "requires rather than allows" cities to authorize administrative personnel to review and approve site plans, plats and design plans without a public hearing. "On the face of it...it makes it mandatory" to allow administrative review without a public hearing, he said; staff and the city attorney will analyze whether appeals or later public review remain permitted.
Council members asked about the law’s intent and local options. Council member Huddleston asked whether municipalities saw the bill as "anti‑public involvement." Theis and city staff responded that municipalities and the League of Arizona Cities and Towns supported aspects of the bill to streamline processes, but that Casa Grande’s package had emphasized early neighborhood engagement so the public can negotiate design solutions before hearings.
Staff said they would pause finalizing and publishing the proposed code amendments until legal review is complete and the city attorney advises how HB 2447 affects appeal rights, administrative review thresholds and which applications must be handled administratively. No ordinance was introduced; staff will return with recommended code text that complies with the new state law.
Theis noted specific numeric provisions in the draft: a 300-foot standard mailing radius for notices (state law is 200 feet), sign-size specifications (4-by-8 for zoning signs, 4-by-4 for other applications), and a pilot for self-certification of permits for applicants with a history of compliance. "We already made some of these changes locally," Theis said, but added the new statute requires careful legal interpretation before the city adopts final language.
