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A bipartisan housing bill is moving through the state legislature that would allow commercial properties to be redeveloped into housing units without a rezoning application.
Lawmakers passed the bill through the House Commerce Committee 7-3 on Tuesday, with a handful of Republicans voting against the bill.
Under the bill, municipalities would be required to allow multifamily residential development or adaptive reuse development of commercial buildings. These reused zones must meet the maximum residential density allowed under municipal zoning ordinances.
“We all recognize we’re facing a problem with a lot of commercial buildings that are laying empty now,” said bill sponsor House Majority Leader Leo Biasiucci, R-Lake Havasu City. “Let’s allow companies to come in and try to repurpose these, whether it’s multi-housing apartments, condos – and try to do that in a faster manner than the usual process.”
The measure, House Bill 2297, has three Democrats as cosponsors including Rep. Analise Ortiz, D-Phoenix, who is one of the most vocal advocates for housing policy reform in the House.
Ortiz said she often hears from constituents in her district of west Phoenix, Maryvale and Glendale that they want to see commercial properties that are no longer in use be converted into housing.
“People want all kinds of housing including mixed use housing … a coffee shop at the bottom and the housing on top. These are the types of living situations that around the world, not just around the country, make great communities,” Ortiz said.
Former Democratic state representative and architect Christian Solorio also spoke in favor of the bill and said he’s been involved in adaptive use projects in his professional career that could have been streamlined and proceeded more quickly had this bill been in place. He estimated the bill could reduce the time it takes to rezone a building …
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