The Goodyear City Council voted unanimously to completely overhaul its zoning laws for the first time since 1999, enacting strict safety boundaries for massive battery storage facilities and opening the door for more diverse housing options to protect local control over the city's development.
The approval ends a public process that began in January 2025. City planners designed the new 350-page document to address emerging land-use trends and state-level legislative pressures.
"The state does not feel that we are doing enough and they are considering, every year, taking different abilities for the cities to regulate its own future away," City Planning Manager Christian Williams said during an early public forum on the project. "We want to be a part of the solution, we want to be in control of our own destiny."
