By J. Graber | Scottsdale Independent
Scottsdale’s proposed new state-mandated ordinance designed to create more affordable housing in the city will only likely yield about 126 new apartments.
After several public hearings on the matter, the city’s planning commission voted 6-1 during its Oct. 23 meeting to recommend the law to the city council for final approval sometime in November.
Arizona House Bill 2297, which was signed into law by Gov. Katie Hobbs in April, requires cities with more than 75,000 people to pass an ordinance to allow adaptive reuse of existing commercial, office and mixed-use sites to be repurposed as multifamily housing without the public hearing process -— in other words, the rezone will be done without the approval of the planning commission, developmental review board or the city council.
The new law requires no more than 10% of eligible property be subject to the change, but Scottsdale is meeting that by allowing just 1% of eligible land be set aside for adaptive repurposing.
A video about the subject created by the city states that amounts to about 120,000 square feet of space that can be repurposed from commercial, office and mixed-use sites to residential.
According to rentcafe.com, the average apartment size in Scottsdale is 951 square feet.
That means the number of new apartments created by the law comes to 126.
“The goal that we had through this whole process was to minimize any negative impacts that may result of the law on the community,” Scottsdale Planning & Development Area Manager Brad Carr told the planning commission.
“While limited in Scottsdale, they still provide for opportunities for conversion.” – Jordan Rose, founder and president of Rose Law Group
