Oro Valley outlines model plan library to meet state pre‑approved housing law deadlines

Planning staff described a developing program to host a public model plan library to comply with ARS §9‑467.20, which requires municipalities to publish pre‑approved housing models for use in residential zones.

Michael Garcia, a town planner, said the town is drafting the program to publish at least three pre‑approved models for single‑family homes and accessory dwelling units by July 1, 2026 and at least three pre‑approved models for duplex and triplex units by Jan. 1, 2027. He described expected size ranges (single family: roughly 800–2,000 sq ft; ADUs: roughly 200–600 sq ft; duplex/triplex units: roughly 400–1,000 sq ft per unit), a public web‑library with model cards, contact information for designers, FAQs and disclaimers, and the requirement that submitted models first comply with applicable code standards.

Commissioners asked whether developers would actually use the program, how much time savings it might produce, whether large builders could deploy many models, how the library would interact with town design standards and homeowners' associations, and whether the town would limit or curate models. Staff said the state law requires the town to accept code‑compliant submissions and publish them; the town will still check design‑standard conformance and clarify in FAQs that HOA or community architecture review approvals may still be required. Garcia said the town is studying other jurisdictions' best practices and drafting an RFQ for designers. The item was informational; no formal action was taken.