Tempe City Council and Development Review Commission Joint Meeting – Development Bonus Program and State Legislation Updates – May 20, 2025
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Tempe City Council and Development Review Commission Joint Meeting – Development Bonus Program and State Legislation Updates – May 20, 2025
The Tempe City Council and Development Review Commission (DRC) held a joint meeting on May 20, 2025, to receive presentations on two major agenda items: a proposed Development Bonus Program focused on affordable housing, and updates on recent state legislation affecting municipal zoning and development processes. The meeting included staff presentations, council and commissioner discussion, and announcements of future meetings.
Discussion Items
A. Development Bonus Program (Options for Affordable Housing)
Community Development Director Jeff Tamulitch and Principal Planners Ryan Levesque, Michelle Dolke, Diana Kaminsky, and Jacob Payne presented the proposed Development Bonus Program. The program is a voluntary, citywide initiative intended to incentivize developers to provide affordable housing in exchange for additional density, building height, and parking reductions beyond what existing zoning allows. The framework aligns with the voter-approved General Plan 2050 and is designed to be administrative in nature to provide certainty and reduce processing time.
Key elements of the proposal:
- The bonus is calculated based on the difference between underlying zoning density and the higher density allowed by the General Plan 2050 land use map. Approximately 7,154 properties (over 1,400 acres) were identified as eligible.
- Developers would covenant to keep a percentage of units affordable for 30 years, with affordability levels tied to Area Median Income (AMI) tiers (e.g., 80%, 65%, 50% AMI).
- A new zoning district, R6 (up to 45 dwelling units per acre), was proposed to provide a by-right option for moderate density.
- Staff presented three cost scenarios illustrating the rent reductions achievable at different AMI levels for a hypothetical 20-unit infill project.
- Next steps include public outreach in late summer 2025, followed by a draft ordinance and public hearings anticipated by late 2025 or early 2026.
Council and DRC members expressed strong support for the program. Mayor and Vice Mayor Garland emphasized its consistency with the General Plan, the need for regional solutions, and the importance of combining this program with other initiatives (Hometown for All, the recent bond). Councilmember Barajan asked about including HUD voucher holders; staff confirmed it could be incorporated. Councilmember Hodge stressed the need to engage teachers, police, firefighters, and restaurant workers in public outreach. Councilmember Amber questioned whether similar programs exist elsewhere; staff noted they are exploring models and may be at the forefront. Vice Mayor Garland asked why the affordability covenant is 30 years rather than in perpetuity; staff agreed to evaluate longer terms. Commissioner Miller raised concerns about the lack of focus on affordable single-family homeownership and heat mitigation through design standards. Staff noted that the program could apply to for-sale townhome products and that design review would address amenities, open space, and heat mitigation.
B. State Legislation Updates
Ryan Levesque provided updates on two recently enacted state bills affecting Tempe’s zoning code:
- House Bill 2110 (cleanup of HB 2297 – Commercial Adaptive Reuse): This bill mandates that at least 10% of commercial lots (previously measured by buildings) be eligible for adaptive reuse conversion to residential. It also clarifies height buffering near single-family zones (100-foot buffer zone for two-story limit) and adjusts airport noise exclusion contours to 65 DNL. Staff will bring a code text amendment for adoption by August 2025.
- House Bill 2447 (Administrative Review and Self-Certification): This bill changes “may” to “shall” in state law, requiring municipalities to process all subdivision plats and design review (development plans, site plan approvals) administratively without public hearings or meetings, effective January 1, 2026. This will impact DRC and City Council review of such items. Appeals remain possible. Staff will develop code amendments to comply while preserving public input through other mechanisms (e.g., combining design review with extensive PAD/zoning processes). Historic districts are exempt. Councilmember Amber expressed frustration with state interference. DRC Commissioner Miller asked about risk management for staff making decisions; City Attorney Anderson noted qualified immunity generally applies.
Key Outcomes
- Staff will proceed with public outreach and stakeholder engagement on the Development Bonus Program, returning to council with a preliminary draft and feedback.
- Staff will prepare and bring forward code text amendments for both HB 2110 and HB 2447, with the former targeted for August 2025 adoption and the latter by the end of 2025.
- The next joint meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 20, 2025, at 4:00 p.m. at the Tempe History Museum, with a subsequent meeting on June 8, 2026.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon, everyone. The Tempe City Council and Tempe Development Review Commission joint meeting. Council meetings can be watched in real time via Cox Cable Channel 11 at Tempe.gov slash Tempe11. Members of the public may also attend the meeting virtually through Microsoft Teams. Item number two here is our presentation items. We've got a couple of things this afternoon. First up started with item two A, development bonus program, options for affordable housing, and welcome everyone. So let's see, I'll let you go. Uh I'll just let you go here. And I'll step back and turn my microphone off. All right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh Mr. Mayor, Council members, uh, Mr. Chairman and Commission members. Uh my name is Jeff Tamulitch. I'm the community development director. I just want to thank you for being here this afternoon. We have two agenda items we'll be do we'll be presenting today, uh, as you had stated. The first is a development uh bonus program, and this has a with a focus on options for affordable housing. This is something that I know many of you have anticipated uh for some time now. And uh, and then we have a second item, which will be a brief presentation on state legislation updates, which we want you all to be aware of. Um I would like to introduce the team presenting today. Uh Deputy Director of Planning, Ryan Levesque, uh Principal Planners, Michelle Dolke, Diana Kaminsky, and Jacob Payne. Um before I pass this on to Ryan, I'd like to give you a brief summary of sort of how we've gotten here. Um the affordable housing strategy plan. Thank you. The the affordable housing strategy plan was actually initiated uh by the urban core uh plan in 2019. The Affordable Housing Strategy has since helped establish the city's goals and objectives for improving the availability of housing for residents of different income levels and lays out strategies to achieve uh housing affordability. Uh just as a reference, uh the Tempe Urban Core Master Plan, the UCMP was community commun was a community-driven vision for the future development of Tempe's downtown and urban core. Uh the urban culture plan was intended to manage projections and development demands, growth projections, excuse me. Uh the plan which included the density bonus program was developed through a public process, uh incorporating comments and feedbacks from residents, community groups, uh, and stakeholders. There were obviously many challenges uh with this plan getting adopted at that time. Uh eventually it was then tabled in 2021 based on resident and council feedback. It was clear that the program uh I guess had overreached and was sort of lost focus. Uh this is what led to it ultimately not getting approved. The general plan 2050, another important milestone when it comes to housing in Tempe. Uh this was a comprehensive two-year process aimed at gaining community support uh to establish varying density levels throughout the city. The fact that the state legislature continues to apply more and more pressure onto municipalities to implement changes with housing and affordability. Uh all this coupled with the fact that the cost of housing in Arizona has significantly increased, making it very difficult for homeowners to to do or people to purchase homes and rent homes. Uh this issue is driven by a combination of factors, uh, one of which is uh limited housing inventory, and and that's sort of how we got to this point. Uh at this point, I'm gonna pass it over to Ryan LeVec to talk about the purpose of the presentation. Thank you, Jeff. Uh the topics that we intend to cover for this presentation are specifically a review of our affordable housing programs that are related to our community development department that we've uh closely working with housing elements. I will define our development bonus program and those elements. Uh we hope to help explain to you uh an approach of a simplified framework for Tempe and then get into some review response input and what that framework will look like for the next uh coming months as we develop uh an outreach effort for this effort. Uh first we'll have uh Michelle go over the um current efforts underway. Thank you, Ryan. Make sure everybody can hear me?
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