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Arizona Starter Homes Act

This bill, known as the "Arizona Starter Homes Act," aims to reduce housing restrictions and provide more flexibility for home buyers and developers in municipalities with over 70,000 residents. The bill prevents municipalities from imposing certain design, size, and feature restrictions on single-family homes, such as mandating homeowners' associations, requiring specific screening or fence designs, or establishing overly restrictive lot sizes, home dimensions, or building setbacks. Specifically, it limits municipalities from requiring lot sizes larger than 3,000 square feet for new developments, imposing minimum home square footage beyond existing standards, or dictating architectural design elements (except in historically designated areas). The bill's underlying rationale is to address Arizona's housing shortage by reducing regulatory barriers that make home ownership difficult. While the legislation prohibits many municipal regulations, it still maintains provisions for building codes, fire codes, public health and safety regulations, and allows municipalities to require utility plans and payment for necessary public services. The bill does not apply to tribal lands or properties near military airports, and it emphasizes property rights as a fundamental individual freedom, seeking to protect homeowners' and developers' choices in home design and construction.1