Casa Grande, AZ Accessory Structures: ADU Owner Occupancy (2026)

Section 5.28.030(K) of the Casa Grande Municipal Code adds an owner-occupancy condition specifically for accessory dwelling units used as short-term rentals. If a property's ADU was constructed on or after September 14, 2024 and that ADU is being operated as a short-term rental, the owner of the short-term rental must reside on the property, tying the STR permit to the owner's actual presence rather than allowing an absentee owner to rent out a detached ADU. The subsection carves out an exception tied to state law: it does not apply to an owner who already had the right to build an ADU on the property before September 14, 2024, whether the ADU had actually been built by then or not, unless the time period specified in A.R.S. § 12-1134(G) has expired.

That statute concerns vested rights to build accessory dwelling units under Arizona's 2024 ADU law, so Casa Grande is effectively grandfathering owners whose ADU development rights predate the ordinance's cutoff date. Because the rule sits inside the general short-term rental permit section, a violation is enforced the same way as any other short-term rental compliance failure: through the civil citation, fine, and permit suspension mechanisms in §§ 5.28.080 and 5.28.100, rather than as a separate accessory-structure penalty.