By Alexandra Hardle | Arizona Republic
Whether or not build-to-rent communities should be required to obtain a certificate of an assured water supply before being built was discussed Tuesday afternoon by the state’s Assured Water Supply Committee.
Under current state law, developers in cities that don’t have a 100-year assured water supply designation must get a 100-year assured water supply certificate from the Arizona Department of Water Resources before moving forward with construction plans. Valley cities that don’t currently have such a designation include Buckeye and Queen Creek.
But the rules don’t apply if the developer is building a rental. Because the assured water supply program is tied to the definition of a subdivision, meaning only developments that have six or more lots must have the certificate. Typically, single-family homes are each built and sold on a separate lot, while an apartment building is usually on one single lot. However, build-to-rent homes are also built on one lot, leading to what some experts are calling a loophole in the state’s groundwater law.
