Southern Arizona Home Builders v. Town of Marana

Summary

The Arizona Supreme Court held that Marana violated the development-fee statute by allocating all or nearly all costs of acquiring, upgrading, and expanding its wastewater treatment facilities to future development, even though the facilities benefited existing residents. The court rejected the lower courts’ reliance on an older deferential framework and required a narrow, evidence-based, proportionate allocation of costs under the amended statute. The court vacated the court of appeals’ decision, reversed the trial court’s judgment, and remanded for further proceedings.