Following the passage of House Bill 2721 during the 2024 legislative session, some residents in Phoenix’s historic Willo Neighborhood remain concerned that the bill could impact the preservation of historic neighborhoods in Arizona. The bill requires cities with over 75,000 residents to permit the development of middle housing, including duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and townhomes, on lots zoned for single-family residential use within central business districts. In a Q&A with the Arizona Capitol Times, Willo Neighborhood Association President Brad Brauer discussed the potential impact of the law and efforts to seek an exemption in the next session.
Answers have been lightly edited for clarity.
Tell me about your background. How long have you lived here?
I bought this house in 2004, so it’s been 21 years as of June 30. I have been involved in the neighborhood association for probably 20-something years, and I’ve been the president of the Willo Neighborhood Association for the last two and a half years. It’s a voluntary group that raises money for items to be installed in the neighborhood, and we collaborate with the city on making improvements, such as on Third Avenue and Fifth Avenue, to make them more pedestrian-friendly, bicycle-friendly, and auto-friendly. We haven’t had to get involved too much in state politics, but it seems like so much of what they’re doing right now is taking zoning power away from municipalities. So, we’re getting a little more involved in what happens with our legislators and we’ll hopefully be able to get some people to change their minds about what they’ve decided to do in these municipalities.
What have you heard from the city of Phoenix on this issue?
We’ve been talking to Phoenix planning and development for over a year now. If this does go into effect, and there are no changes to it, what are the ways it could negatively impact neighborhoods? This neighborhood is obviously special to me, but I know people who have lived here since 1952 and 1968. Their answer was, ‘This won’t affect you, but this is going to affect us.’ We’re kind of backtracking to hopefully educate members of the Legislature and the governor’s office that the unintended consequences are going to be very negative for people who’ve worked very hard for a long time to make (Phoenix) a nice place to live. I’ve been in Arizona for almost 42 years and I’ve never lived in a neighborhood where you know your neighbors. These neighborhoods are like that. People come here and they’ll often stay for a very long time because they’re comfortable places to live. They’re also very pricey. They’ve gotten that way over the last probably 30 years.
Why do you think they’ve gotten pricey?
They are solid homes, and you come in to take care of them and comply with the historic preservation requirements of not altering the fronts and exterior in such a way that, should the original builder, the Woolworth brothers, drive by today, they would recognize their work. Say a large patio cover, I couldn’t do it here. Changing the windows is a bit more of a process than a lot of other houses because they have to fit into what this house was.
If there are no changes to the law, where would these middle housing options go in this neighborhood?
Anywhere in the neighborhood, according to House Bill 2721. My neighbor could sell her house to a developer. They would scrape the house and put in a fourplex with the minimum setback that state law requires. There’s no limitation to building height in the bill, so if it went to three stories, they could technically do that according to how that law is written. Another concern also would be that they get two to four lots, and they build fourplexes on each one and make a community out of it. There’s nothing in the law that says they can’t do that, and you’d be taking away the history of the neighborhood. You’re taking away what I bought my house to be. When I bought my house, there wasn’t a two-story house next to it. But if there is, that’s changing my lifestyle and changing all the money I’ve put into this home. I’m not quite sure how that, number one, is fair, but how is it, number two, anywhere near affordable? The bill doesn’t technically say ‘affordable,’ but that’s how it was pushed through, and some Democrats also signed on, as it included the words ‘affordable housing.’
What would you say to legislators who don’t care about preserving the neighborhood?
If they don’t care, it doesn’t affect them. It doesn’t create the affordable housing they’re asking for and it’s not too hard to prove that. I mean, it doesn’t take a PhD to be able to do this. A friend of mine, who’s a developer, could come in here and say, ‘I wouldn’t buy here because it wouldn’t pencil out.’ So, even if they found a vacant property or found someone who just wanted to unload a house and started it, I don’t think it would diminish the value so much that it would become affordable, at least for a while. Therefore, it doesn’t resolve the immediate issue of a lack of houses, lack of apartments, condos, whatever that may be. And to be very clear, we’ve supported, as a neighborhood, the multi-family housing going up all around us. We thought the infrastructure would be helpful to us and create some of those places where people need to be close to light rail, public transportation, walkable restaurants, theaters, museums, and whatever else you may want to be close to, wherever you may work. It’s kind of surprising that they’ve looked at all these neighborhoods and said, Well, we can just scrape those. If they don’t care, then why not support it? We’re here for education. We’re not here to offend anybody or call anybody names. We just want to be heard and for others to realize that we’re not the only ones that will be affected by this.
What would a historical exemption look like? How would you define that?
That’s what we hired lobbyists for. We hope our lawmakers have that knowledge, or maybe they reach out to Phoenix planning and development. Unfortunately, a lot of our legislators don’t have that knowledge base. What’s best for Phoenix? What’s best for Tucson? And oh, by the way, what’s best for Flagstaff? Because we’re not in the same city and the expectations of the residents aren’t the same. Hopefully, we have the ability, through a lobbyist and through our own legislators, Aaron Marquez and Sarah Liguori, to get on board and hopefully the governor as well. But more importantly, probably someone from the Republican side who can sponsor a bill like this.
Anything else you wanted to mention?
This is about the preservation of neighborhoods. It’s not about keeping someone else out. We don’t want to prevent someone from having a place to live or a better first house to own, but I don’t think taking away from a neighborhood is the way to go about that. I really wish the city and our state would come up with a better idea than to come in here with a bulldozer.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
