Earlier this year, on Jan. 1, House Bill 2447, or A.R.S. § 9-500.49, went into law, requiring municipalities like the Town of Carefree to designate an official to review and approve plans without public input.
At a November 2025 town of Carefree Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, multiple officials, including Town council member Colleen Rose-Scurti, disapproved of the bill.
Recently, at the Sept. 14 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, Chairperson Peter Burns also spoke in disapproval.
“The legislator took away so many authorities of the elected, appointed bodies of this esteemed municipality,” he said.
The bill was approved by Governor Katie Hobbs March 31, 2025 and officially went into effect Jan. 1.
With the bill in place, the Carefree Planning & Zoning Commission is working to fully understand the new law.
Town of Carefree staff will handle all site and development plans and objective design review. Self certification, at-risk submittals and expedited reviews are all optional for the town to take on by itself.
“I do firmly believe 9-500.49 will control staff needs to be approving or denying site plans, pre-plats, final plats,” town attorney Nick Cook said. “There was portion of the code that said ‘referred.’ The staff could refer something to the planning and zoning commission if it’s a referral relating to site plan, pre-plan, final plat.”
All plat information will be submitted electronically to the staff.
“Now, it’s all electronic until we’re actually ready to approve a plat that actually requires any kind of signature,” Stacey Bridge-Denzak, director of community development, said. “I think at that point, then we would print things out.”
The town will publicly publish when a plat is filed to keep residents updated on what is happening in the community.
“To go one step further, you could put into place a provision that says there’s been an application, it’s a complete application, that’s now in staff’s review here within 600 feet of the proposed development,” Cook said.
This will allow the public to make comments to the town and the plat applicants with suggestions. Under the law, the staff is allowed to ask for it, but cannot require it.
To watch the full meeting at which HB 2447 was discussed, go to youtube.com/watch?v=tVDRxuJH1FM&t=238s.
Reporter Zev Black can be reached at zblack@iniusa.org. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.
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