(The Center Square) – A proposed bill in Arizona would provide more affordable housing options for seniors, according to a zoning lawyer.
Senate Majority Leader John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, introduced Senate Bill 1096, which would permit religious institutions to develop senior living communities on their property without rezoning.
The bill would apply to all Arizona cities, towns and counties. SB 1096 would prevent these entities from imposing additional zoning requirements or singling out religious institutions for stricter zoning.
Jason Morris, a founding partner of the Phoenix law firm Withey Morris PLC, called the bill a “positive” step for housing. He said the legislation would permit assisted living and independent living facilities to be “built more efficiently and to be built without having to go through a full land-use rezoning.”
Churches and religious institutions are not normally zoned for multifamily or commercial uses, which are required for assisted living or independent living facilities, Morris, a zoning lawyer who specializes in land use, told The Center Square this week.
The bill would remove the rezoning period from the equation, which takes between nine months and one year to complete, he said.
SB 1096 is “about speeding up the availability and also recognizing that [Arizona] shouldn’t put religious institutions in a position where they have to foot the bill for a very expensive and time-consuming process,” Morris explained.
In general, zoning cases can cost around $250,000, Morris said. He added costs can be more, depending on “how much pushback there is and how many issues may be present.”
SB 1096 will have “far-reaching consequences” because some Arizona jurisdictions don’t allow “for assisted living or independent living facilities at all,” he said.
These jurisdictions may have a church that is now “all of a sudden opening the door to something that’s not allowed,” the lawyer noted.
Morris said he didn’t think Arizona towns or cities would file a lawsuit against the bill because the Legislature “has the right to pass laws along these lines.” However, he said he thought some communities would push back against the legislation.
Local governments “do not like to lose control over zoning,” the lawyer noted.
SB 1096 deals with a “small aspect of a much larger concern” that the Arizona Legislature has with cities and towns not rezoning “fast enough” and “setting up too many barriers to rezonings,” Morris said.
