HB 2720 Bars Cities Over 75,000 From Requiring a Casita Hearing
Arizona Service Area
Arizona did something most states have not: it took the discretion out of building a casita. HB 2720 requires every Arizona municipality over 75,000 residents to allow accessory dwelling units wherever single-family housing is allowed, and it bars cities from demanding a special use permit, a variance, or a public hearing for a conforming unit. HB 2928 carried the same idea into the counties. Between them, most Arizona homeowners now have a statutory path to a second dwelling on their lot instead of a political one.
Apex Drafting is an Arizona business serving its home state. We draft from Colorado City, Arizona, to Arizona code, and we work with homeowners, builders, and contractors across the state remotely: phone and video consultations, shared plan review, and permit-ready drawing sets delivered digitally to your jurisdiction's standards.
HB 2720: what Arizona now requires of its cities
HB 2720 was signed May 21, 2024 and took effect January 1, 2025. It requires every Arizona municipality over 75,000 residents to allow accessory dwelling units on any lot where single-family housing is allowed, and establishes a statewide floor of at least one attached and one detached ADU per single-family lot. Cities implement that floor through their own ordinances, so the count a specific city allows today is something we verify against the governing ordinance text for each project rather than assuming it from a summary.
Covered cities in the Phoenix metro include Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Scottsdale, Glendale, Tempe, Peoria, Surprise, Goodyear, and Avondale.
Removing the special use permit is the change that matters most
The headline of HB 2720 is the right to build. The provision that changes outcomes is procedural: cities may no longer require a special use permit, a variance, or a public hearing for a conforming ADU.
Before the law, a homeowner with a perfectly reasonable casita design could spend months in a discretionary process and still lose at a hearing because neighbors objected. The approval was political. Now, if the drawings conform to the local ordinance, the path is an administrative plan check. Nothing is put to a vote.
That moves where the risk sits. It is no longer about persuasion, it is about documentation. The variable that decides your timeline is whether the submitted set is complete, dimensionally consistent, and drawn to the reviewer's checklist. An incomplete set still draws corrections, and corrections still cost weeks.
The acre-plus third unit, and the condition attached to it
HB 2720 also carries a provision that rarely appears in ADU coverage. On lots of one acre or larger, a municipality must allow one additional detached ADU, provided at least one of the units on the lot is a restricted-affordable dwelling unit occupied by a household at or below 80% of area median income.
On a large Arizona parcel that is a materially different project. A single-family lot becomes a small multi-building site with a primary residence and multiple accessory units, and the affordability restriction determines which unit carries it and how the site is organized. It belongs in the site plan from the first pass, alongside utilities, access, drainage, and privacy separation between units.
HB 2928 extended the mandate to Arizona counties
HB 2928 was signed May 23, 2025. It extends ADU requirements to Arizona counties with a compliance deadline of January 1, 2026, and carries the same acre-plus affordable third-unit provision.
The practical result is that homeowners on unincorporated county land, including unincorporated Maricopa County, now hold ADU rights comparable to those inside a covered city. It is an underserved group. County parcels tend to be larger than city parcels, so large-lot size rules apply more often out there and the projects tend to be bigger. It is also territory where a remote drafting firm is at no disadvantage, because there is no showroom to visit and no counter to walk into.
An Arizona firm drafting to Arizona code
Apex Drafting works out of Colorado City, Arizona. Arizona is our home state, not a market we added to a list, and the statutes on this page are the ones our own legislature passed. Remote drafting has been established practice in Arizona for decades. The geography of the drafting table has never been the constraint. The constraint is whether the person drawing your plans understands the ordinance your reviewer is holding.
Every Arizona project runs the same way: you describe the lot and what you want to build, we pull the rules that govern that parcel, we draft to your jurisdiction's submission standards, and you receive digital permit-ready files. Revisions happen over phone, video, and email. You can read more about Apex Drafting, review pricing, or contact us directly.
Working on a Arizona project right now?
Send us the lot and what you want to build. We'll confirm which local rules apply to your parcel and come back with a firm number, at no cost.
Arizona metros we draft for
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler is the 10th most populous metropolitan area in the United States, at 5,228,938 residents as of July 1, 2025, and it added 59,065 people in the year to July 2025, the 4th-largest numeric gain of any US metro. It is also where the Arizona ADU rules get their most detailed local implementation.
Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix implements HB 2720 through Zoning Ordinance Section 706, which sets ADU size in two tiers keyed to lot size: on lots up to 10,000 square feet, the lesser of 1,000 square feet or 75% of the primary dwelling's gross floor area, and on lots over 10,000 square feet, the lesser of 3,000 square feet or 10% of net lot area. Setbacks are 5 feet minimum at side and rear, there is no ADU-specific off-street parking requirement, and height follows the underlying zoning district.
Mesa and the wider metro
Mesa adopted Ordinance 5883 on October 7, 2024, allowing ADUs on any lot with a single residence, with a 75% or 1,000 square foot cap, 5 foot rear and side setbacks, and a waived covered-parking replacement requirement for garage conversions. Mesa has no city plan library, so homeowners there are told to budget $3,000 to $15,000 for custom architectural plans. Details for the surrounding cities live on the Phoenix service area page.
The drafting work Arizona projects need most
ADU and Casita Plans
The dominant request in Arizona since HB 2720. Drawn to your jurisdiction's size tier, setbacks, and height limits, with the acre-plus third-unit question resolved before the design is fixed.
Permit-Ready Drawings and As-Builts
With the hearing removed from the process, the completeness of the submittal sets your timeline. As-built documentation also comes first on garage conversions, where accurate existing drawings rarely survive.
Custom House Plans
For large county parcels, sloped or irregular lots, and multi-building site plans where an accessory unit drawn to a 3,000 square foot ceiling is effectively a second house.
Arizona projects also run to home additions and remodel drafting, energy-efficient design in a climate where cooling load drives the envelope, multigenerational and universal design for casitas built to house family, and 3D renderings when a homeowner needs to see the unit against the main house first. Stock house plans start at $799 and, unlike a pre-approved municipal plan that must be submitted as-is, they are meant to be modified for your site. The full list is on our services page.
Arizona ADU and drafting questions, answered
Does Arizona law let me build a casita on my property?
In most populated parts of the state, yes. HB 2720, signed May 21, 2024 and effective January 1, 2025, requires every Arizona municipality over 75,000 residents to allow accessory dwelling units on any lot where single-family housing is allowed, with a floor of at least one attached and one detached ADU per single-family lot. HB 2928, signed May 23, 2025, extended comparable requirements to Arizona counties with a compliance deadline of January 1, 2026. Each city and county implements the mandate through its own ordinance, so we confirm the current local rules, including the per-lot count, against the governing ordinance before drafting starts.
Do I still need a special use permit or a public hearing?
Not for a conforming ADU in a covered municipality. HB 2720 removed the special use permit, variance, and public hearing requirement, which is the most practical change in the law. It converts a discretionary approval into an administrative plan check. A neighbor cannot defeat a conforming casita at a hearing, and what now determines your timeline is whether the submitted drawings are complete and correct.
I have more than an acre. Can I add a third unit?
HB 2720 requires a municipality to allow one additional detached ADU on lots of one acre or larger, provided at least one of the units on the lot is a restricted-affordable dwelling unit occupied by a household at or below 80% of area median income. It is the least-discussed provision in the law and the most valuable one on large parcels, because it turns a single-family lot into a small multi-building site. The affordability restriction shapes the site plan, so it has to be part of the design from the start.
My property is in unincorporated county land. Do these rules reach me?
Yes, under HB 2928. Signed May 23, 2025, it extended ADU requirements to Arizona counties with a January 1, 2026 compliance deadline. Homeowners in unincorporated Maricopa County now hold ADU rights comparable to those inside Phoenix or Mesa, including the acre-plus provision for an additional detached unit. County parcels tend to be larger, so large-lot size rules apply more often outside city limits than inside them.
Do I need a draftsperson with an office in my Arizona city?
No. Apex Drafting is an Arizona business working out of Colorado City, Arizona, and drafting is remote by design: phone and video consultations, shared digital plan review, and permit-ready sets delivered electronically and formatted for your permitting office. No counter in Arizona requires the person who drew the plans to appear in person. If you want a faster starting point, stock house plans start at $799 and can be reviewed against your jurisdiction's requirements.
Where else we work
Arizona is our home state, and we draft for markets well beyond it. The service areas page lists every metro we cover, and general questions are answered on our FAQ.
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Tell us your city or county and what you want to build. We will pull the rules that govern your parcel, quote the work, and deliver permit-ready drawings, all remotely.