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Board adopts major zoning overhaul, sets 100‑foot BESS setback and new ADU rules
Summary
Supervisors unanimously adopted a comprehensive Maricopa County zoning ordinance update that streamlines the code, modernizes setbacks and parking standards, establishes a 100‑foot buffer for battery energy storage systems, and implements state ADU requirements; industry groups supported the changes while residents raised compatibility and setback concerns.
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted a comprehensive rewrite of the county zoning code on Dec. 12, a measure county planners and industry representatives described as a modernization intended to streamline permitting and address emerging technologies.
Planning staff said the rewrite is the outcome of a year‑long task‑force process that distilled 85 action items into a draft ordinance and reduced duplicative text, consolidated development standards into single tables and clarified permitted uses. "The ordinance has been reduced from 17 chapters to 14, eliminating duplicative sections and removing almost 15,000 words," planning director Tom Elsworth said.
Key policy changes…
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