Scottsdale Zoning Intelligence
Zoning, permitted uses, and development potential for Scottsdale, Arizona. 247 districts with their permitted uses and building controls.
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How is Scottsdale zoned?
Scottsdale's roster carries 247 zoning symbols, far more than any other large Arizona city. The number is real but it is not a count of separate districts: only 42 of those symbols are base districts. The remaining 214 are base districts combined with one or more overlays, written as a compound symbol with slashes - C-2/DO, R1-35/ESL, S-R/PCD/ESL.
The reason is that Scottsdale governs a large area of desert and mountain terrain through the Environmentally Sensitive Lands Overlay, and ESL appears in 95 of the 247 symbols. ESL is an overlay, not a replacement: the underlying district still sets what may be built and to what standards, and ESL modifies that by requiring land to be kept as natural open space and by protecting washes, ridges and vegetation. A parcel zoned R1-35/ESL is an R1-35 parcel with those additional constraints, not a different district.
Other overlays stack the same way. Planned district designations appear in 57 symbols, a downtown overlay in 37, and foothills and historic property overlays in 12 each. Because they combine, a single parcel can carry three or four at once, which is why symbols such as C-2/ESL/(HD) exist and why the list runs so long.
The base districts themselves are conventional. R1 districts are single-family, with the numeral tracking lot size approximately rather than exactly - R1-7 states 7,000 square feet and R1-35 states 35,000, but R1-5 states 4,700. C-2 is the Central Business district and S-R is Service Residential. Across all 247 symbols, 52 permit single-family, 38 permit multifamily, 69 permit an accessory dwelling and 194 permit commercial use.
What can you build in Scottsdale?
- Single-family permitted
- 52of 247 districts
- Multifamily permitted
- 38of 247 districts
- Commercial use permitted
- 194of 247 districts
Scottsdale, Arizona Zoning Districts: What Do They Mean?
Zoning districts are areas regulated by specific laws that determine land use, building types, and development rules. Each district below shows its zone type and which uses it permits.
| Zone Code | Zone Type | Permitted Uses |
|---|---|---|
C-1 Neighborhood Commercial | Commercial |
|
C-1/(C) Neighborhood Commercial C | Commercial |
|
C-1/DO Neighborhood Commercial Downtown Overlay | Overlay |
|
C-1/ESL Neighborhood Commercial Environmentally Sensitive Lands | Commercial |
|
What are the building controls in Scottsdale?
Setback, height, FAR, lot area, and density controls enforced across Scottsdale zoning districts.
- Max building height (ft)
- Max coverage
- Max density du (per acre)
- Max far
- Maximum building height (feet)
- Maximum floor area ratio
- Maximum lot coverage (%)
- Min front yard (ft)
- Min landscaped space (%)
- Min lot area (sq ft)
- Min lot width (ft)
- Min rear yard (ft)
- Min side yard (ft)
- Min side yard both (ft)
- Minimum aggregate side yard (feet)
- Minimum building setback (feet)
- Minimum corner lot yards (feet)
- Minimum depth (feet)
- Minimum distance between buildings (feet)
- Minimum double frontage lot yards (feet)
- Minimum front yard (feet)
- Minimum gross land area square (feet)
- Minimum lot area square (feet)
- Minimum open space
- Minimum private outdoor living space
- Minimum rear yard (feet)
- Minimum side yard (feet)
- Minimum width (feet)
- Open space (%)
- Private open space (%)
Other Arizona cities
Scottsdale zoning: frequently asked questions
- Why does Scottsdale have 247 zoning symbols?
- Because the roster lists base districts combined with overlays, not districts alone. Only 42 are base districts; the other 214 are combinations written with slashes, such as C-2/DO or S-R/PCD/ESL. A parcel does not sit in 247 possible districts - it sits in one base district that may carry several overlays at once.
- What is the ESL overlay in Scottsdale?
- The Environmentally Sensitive Lands Overlay, which governs development across Scottsdale's desert and mountain terrain. It appears in 95 of the 247 symbols. ESL does not replace the underlying zoning: the base district still determines permitted uses and standards, while ESL adds requirements to preserve natural area open space and to protect features such as washes, ridges and native vegetation.
- What does a symbol like R1-35/ESL mean?
- It is a single R1-35 parcel - single-family residential with a 35,000 square foot minimum lot - that also falls inside the Environmentally Sensitive Lands Overlay. Read the base district first for what may be built, then the overlay for what it adds. Where several overlays stack, as in C-2/ESL/(HD), each contributes its own layer of requirements to the same parcel.
- Do the numbers in Scottsdale's R1 districts mean lot size?
- Approximately, but not exactly, so check rather than assume. R1-7 states a 7,000 square foot minimum, R1-10 states 10,000, R1-18 states 18,000 and R1-35 states 35,000 - but R1-5 states 4,700 square feet, not 5,000, and R1-43 states 43,000 rather than the 43,560 square feet in an acre. The numeral is a label, and the stated minimum is the figure that governs.
- Which Scottsdale zones allow multifamily?
- 38 of the 247 symbols permit multifamily housing, against 52 permitting single-family, 69 permitting an accessory dwelling and 194 permitting commercial use. Because most symbols are base-plus-overlay combinations, the same base district appears repeatedly with different overlays, and an overlay such as ESL can constrain how much of a site is actually buildable.
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Book a demo →Zoning data is pre-development intelligence, not legal advice. Verify with the Scottsdale planning department before acquisition or design.