Betsy Larson wants to live in a more walkable neighborhood, with streetlights illuminating bustling roadways in front of thriving local businesses.
She believes a new zoning tool proposed by Tucson’s planning commission could help make this a reality by offering developers the option to build higher, denser and more accessible city spaces.
Larson is the president of the West University Neighborhood Association. She knows it takes more than revamping zoning to build community and business-friendly neighborhoods. She sees some of the student housing apartment complexes in her neighborhood as a warning: touted as mixed-use development, the bottom commercial space in some buildings remain empty because of high cost, including of adding plumbing or electric, she said.
“No local businesses can afford to go into those retail spaces,” Larson said. “They are blights on Fourth Avenue.”
The Community Corridor Tool was developed following several years of city council study and public listening sessions, and is now being presented to Tucsonans at a series of civic meetings.
That tool would create a new section of zoning code that would allow developers to opt in to a zoning overlay, or additional level of zoning, in some parts of the city. That effort would encourage taller buildings, require sidewalk space, and include fewer parking requirements.
The goal, planners say, is to make it easier to turn blacktop lots into walkable, bikeable urban spaces.
“The current zoning standards require suburban development patterns and increase the reliance on cars as the primary form of transportation,” explains the website introducing the corridor tool.
In many ways, the tool offers a shift from the longtime logic behind current zoning regulations. As Tucson was developing its zoning codes in the ’60s and ’70s, the vision was single family homes, suburban streets, plenty of space for cars.
Now in 2025, amid climbing heat, a growing population and an increasing interest in more pedestrian cities, that zoning code isn’t set up for a Tucson of the future, argue city planning officials. Citing the city’s climate plan as well as the 20-year growth and development document Plan Tucson, officials say the region must shift to create more dense housing to meet these broader goals.
Want to get involved?
Email the Planning Commission:: PlanningCommission@tucsonaz.govEmails will be provided to commissioners before the meeting.
Learn more about the tool by visiting corridors.tucsonaz.gov
You can also watch an informational video about the CCT: What is the Community Corridors Tool?
“If the measure passes, the hope is that people utilize it and are able to build some more of those buildings” that are denser and more affordable, said Nicholas Martell, Tucson’s section manager for long-range planning.
Still, Martell recognizes development groups or business owners would have to voluntarily opt in to the community corridor tool when they seek to build locally. “It’s almost entirely market driven, there is very little we can do to encourage somebody to build something,” he said.
The next step for the Community Corridor Tool is to go to the council for a March 18 public hearing where residents can provide feedback. The council could support the measure and move it toward a future formal vote, or call another public hearing.
A proposed shift to more density, fewer cars
Buildings and surrounding areas could become denser and have more sidewalk space because the tool would:
- Reduce or waive parking requirements
- Reduce lot size in lower density residential zones
- Require any site lacking sidewalks to install them
- Encourage streets to be connected through pedestrian throughways
The exception would be sites that have mountain views, where the tool could still be used, but any approvals in those areas will adhere to more restrictive standards about building height or other details.
In addition, vehicle-oriented uses such as car washes, auto repairs and drive-thru businesses are not permitted to use the community corridor zoning tool.
You can read the draft proposed code here.
A broken zoning system hurts efforts to build more affordable housing
There’s wide consensus around the striking need for affordable housing in Tucson. Housing insecurity and homelessness is already a significant challenge, with few signs of slowing.
In fiscal year 2023, 16,000 households were not current on their rent, according to a recent report from the University of Arizona’s Southwest Institute for Research on Women.
One part of that, city officials say, is that housing development has not kept pace with population growth. That has made housing costs rise, even as household incomes have remained steady.
For example, a retail salesperson earning an annual salary of $32,540 would struggle to afford a studio in Tucson, according to the city’s Housing and Community Development 5-year plan. The annual salary needed to afford a studio in Tucson is $36,260. A Tucsonan would need to earn about $40,720 to afford a one-bedroom apartment, according to 2023 data from the Zillow Home Value Index.
State-level legal barriers limit the use of some of the most common ways localities can make housing more affordable, such as rent control/rent stabilization and short-term rental regulation.
Zoning, however, is “a factor that the City of Tucson has control over,” says the website for the Community Corridor Tool.
The current code, as well as the process for approval to rezone, “limits the types of housing that can be built and drives up the cost of construction,” the website says.
Only 12% of Tucson’s land area is zoned for higher-density housing, such as apartments, according to city data. And even when more density is allowed, parking requirements and height limitations make many types of development challenging, officials say.
A rezoning process for a more pedestrian-oriented building style in parts of Tucson under the current code takes a city review of approximately 8-12 months, and developers could end up spending about $250,000 on consulting fees. By comparison, building a self-storage unit or a car wash can move to the permitting process without public hearings, design reviews or other oversight steps.
Looking ahead, that approach isn’t likely to meet Tucson’s growing housing needs, planning officials say.
With a projected population growth to 603,724 in 2045 (up from 561,548 in 2023), Tucson must produce more than 62,000 housing units to meet current and future needs, according to a housing assessment from public policy firm ECOnorthwest.
Community feedback at February public hearing
Among those who have opposed to the tool say they worry that zoning which would allow taller buildings, also would bar scenic views from their homes. Some community members questioned what the changes would mean for sustainable property taxes.
“It’s upsetting to think our wonderful view of the Catalinas will be obscured by two-story apartments. And I wonder what will eventually happen to property taxes — already growing to unaffordable rates,” wrote Tucson resident Marilyn Gilbert in a public comment email.
Others said they felt the city effort didn’t go far enough to ensure new housing would be affordable.
The tool is a “poorly thought out plan for a very worthwhile idea,” wrote Katya Peterson, a resident of the Sam Hughes neighborhood, in a written public comment.
“As proposed, we will reproduce middle to higher end housing and business centers and make money for some developers which is not necessarily a bad idea per se but not what we [need] to promote as a public campaign/community need at this time.”
Still, during the planning commission public hearing held Feb. 26 both in person and via Zoom, most people spoke in favor of the measure: 28 people supported the tool and four people spoke against it.
“As an educator, I witnessed the devastating impact of housing instability on my students daily,” said Karen Esquer, her voice shaking as she spoke to the planning commission. “These children struggle to focus on learning because they do not know where they will sleep at night.”
Gustavo Silva, speaking at the meeting in person, said he’s advocating for families who were renting and struggling to find affordable housing, or facing a cycle of displacement as rental prices spiked. Between 2020 and 2023, average rents went up 36% and the proportion of households struggling to make rent went up 11% in Tucson.
During the meeting, planning officials noted that the Community Corridor Tool offered an affordable housing incentive, not a requirement.
They pointed to Amazon Flats as an example of what a future development that included affordable housing could look like. The city-led project includes plans to rehab a former motel into 30 permanent supportive housing units, with plans to build more.
“I urge the planning commission to remember that the policies we implement must reflect the needs of everyone, not just of the loudest voices,” Silva said. “Let us make sure we make policies for an equitable city.”
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