Arizona’s House Bill 2447 takes effect on December 31, 2025, and it’s set to reshape how cities and towns handle site plan and development reviews.
Under the new law, municipal staff must review and approve certain development applications—like site plans, plats and design reviews—administratively, without a public hearing. The law requires that municipalities adopt objective standards for review, which must be clearly defined, measurable, and free from personal interpretation.
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For developers, this means faster approvals, less red tape, and more predictable timelines. For municipalities, it means rewriting ordinances and updating internal processes before the December 31 deadline.
The biggest benefit? Streamlined reviews and faster development execution. Many reviews that once went before planning commissions or councils will now skip public hearings entirely. However, this also means fewer opportunities for inconsistent application of the review criteria via public hearing bodies and a fairer, more objective process.
Not everything moves to staff review—rezonings, variances, and conditional use permits will still require public hearings. But for routine, code-compliant projects, HB 2447 marks a major shift toward efficiency and objective review standards.
As the deadline approaches, municipalities and applicants alike should be preparing: tightening up codes, updating review criteria and ensuring staff are ready for a faster, more technical review process.
In short, HB 2447 streamlines development and site plan review across Arizona—speeding up growth while challenging cities to balance efficiency with transparency.
Practice Tip – Site Plan and Design Review
As we draw nearer to the end of the year and municipalities move toward site plan and design review processes that are entirely administrative in nature with no public hearings process, make sure to carefully review the application checklist, flowchart, and relevant ordinance sections before submitting. As noted above, every city and town must adopt new objective review criteria which must be clear, measurable and free from personal interpretation.
HB 2447 will result in significant changes to the site plan and review processes for many jurisdictions across the state. If you have a new project on the horizon, take the extra time to acquaint yourself with the updated review process and any new criteria/standards in the jurisdiction you’re developing in. Depending on the municipality, there might be significant changes to the process that will impact your submittal requirements, review cycles, and overall timelines.
Understanding these changes will be incredibly valuable as you negotiate a PSA, prepare a proforma and navigate the early phases of the development process.
Author: Benjamin Tate is a partner and land use attorney at Withey Morris Baugh, PLC. A second-generation Phoenix native, he brings deep local roots, a background in litigation, and extensive political experience to navigating complex zoning and development matters.
