Local Rules Near Downtown Scottsdale

Scottsdale bars operating a mobile sound amplification system, essentially any vehicle-mounted radio, stereo or speaker rig, between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. if it can be heard 50 feet away or disturbs anyone's peace. Emergency, utility and permitted-event vehicles are exempt, and violators face misdemeanor penalties.

Scottsdale Code Section 17-63 bans using a compression release engine brake, sometimes called a 'jake brake,' anywhere the City has posted a sign prohibiting it, specifically to cut excessive vehicle noise. Violators face a civil sanction of $200 to $2,500.

Scottsdale bans mobile sound amplification between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. under Code of Ordinances Sec. 19-20, covering vehicle stereos, radios and PA systems that carry 50 feet or more or that annoy or disturb the quiet of anyone nearby. The curfew targets vehicle-mounted sound, not fixed-property noise, and lists specific exemptions.

Scottsdale's leaf blower rule is narrow but absolute: Sec. 18-9.1 makes it unlawful for anyone to use a leaf blower to blow landscape waste into the public roadway. The code defines leaf blower as any device generating a stream of air to move landscape waste or litter, and landscape waste covers dirt, leaves, clippings and other debris from landscape work.

Scottsdale's Code of Ordinances § 5-358 forces new noise-sensitive development inside the Airport Influence Area's AC-2 and AC-3 zones to be built with noise attenuation measures meeting the International Building Code's sound-transmission standards. The requirement sits inside the Airport Vicinity Development Regulations that also route day cares, schools, hospitals, dwellings and other noise-sensitive uses through avigation easements and, in AC-3, an outright prohibition.

Scottsdale restricts construction work to set daily windows under City Code § 31-12: 6 a.m.-7 p.m. weekdays and 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturdays in summer, tighter hours in winter, and no Sunday work without written justification to the building official.

Scottsdale's Code of Ordinances § 4-17(c) makes it unlawful to knowingly keep or harbor any animal or fowl whose frequent or habitual howling, yelping, barking or crowing annoys or disturbs a neighborhood, or even just two people, one of whom can be a police officer or animal control officer. The rule covers all animals, not only dogs, and needs no minimum number of complaining neighbors beyond that pair.

Scottsdale Sec. 19-26 bars any business that serves alcohol or provides live entertainment from creating unreasonable noise that disturbs a nearby residential district, and Sec. 19-25 sets a rebuttable presumption that a reading over 68 dB(A), audible 100 feet or more from the business, is unreasonable.

Scottsdale caps every licensed vacation rental and short-term rental at a single family of one to six adults, plus their related dependent children, using the definition written into the city's Zoning Ordinance. The limit must be posted inside the unit, and breaking it is treated as a civil violation under the city's escalating short-term rental penalty schedule.

Scottsdale escalates civil fines every time the same vacation rental racks up another 'verified violation' within a rolling 12 months: up to $500 for the first, up to $1,000 for the second, and up to $3,500 for the third and beyond. Three verified violations in that same window also puts the property's license into suspension proceedings.

Scottsdale does not impose any annual night cap on short-term or vacation rentals. Arizona SB 1350 (2016) and HB 2672 (2019) preempt cities and counties from prohibiting STRs or restricting them based on classification, use, or occupancy duration, so Ordinance 4566 (SRC 18-175) regulates safety, registration, and nuisance behavior rather than capping rental nights.

Scottsdale Ordinance 4566 (Article IX, Chapter 18 - SRC 18-175) requires every short-term/vacation rental property to obtain an annual city license at $250 per property, plus an Arizona Department of Revenue TPT license and Maricopa County Assessor registration under ARS 33-1902. Owners must designate a 24-hour emergency contact and notify adjacent neighbors within 30 days of licensing.

Scottsdale treats a loud short-term rental party as a civil offense with escalating fines: Sec. 18-124 makes it unlawful for any responsible person, including a guest, host or renter, to permit a nuisance party or unlawful gathering, starting at a $250 minimum fine and climbing to $2,000 for a fourth violation within a year. Owners who knowingly allow it face a separate, higher fine schedule under Sec. 18-125.

Scottsdale's STR ordinance (Ordinance 4566) requires operators to address parking impacts. Guests must use the property's driveway and garage: street parking spillover into neighborhoods is a common enforcement concern. The STR must provide adequate on-site parking for the occupancy level.

Scottsdale requires all licensed STR properties to maintain liability insurance coverage of at least $500,000. This coverage may be obtained through a direct policy or through an online lodging marketplace (such as Airbnb's Host Protection Insurance).

Scottsdale bans burning refuse anywhere in the city except in incinerators permitted by the county and the city, and any such burning must still comply with Arizona Department of Health Services and EPA rules. It's the one solid-waste offense the code escalates straight to a class one misdemeanor rather than a civil fine.

Scottsdale's amended Residential Code sets hard setbacks for backyard fire pits: outdoor fireplaces, woodstoves, and wood-burning fire pits must sit at least 8 feet from a shared side property line, or 10 feet in a zero-lot-line subdivision. A building permit and site plan are required for the installation unless the structure is only a masonry surround.

Scottsdale's Fire Code designates 'hazardous fire areas' under Appendix O, where the fire code official can close land to entry, post warning signs, and require permits before anyone sets off explosives, smokes bees, or runs an open-flame device. Grass-, grain-, brush-, and forest-covered land in these zones carries extra fire-prevention rules layered on top of the 2021 International Fire Code Scottsdale otherwise adopted in Chapter 36.

Scottsdale's Fire Code requires a construction permit before storing or using LP-gas, operating LP-gas cargo tankers, or removing underground LP-gas containers. Small propane tanks of 10 gallons or less serving a single-family home are the only exemption.

Scottsdale adopted Ordinance 4157 regulating fireworks use in compliance with state law. Permissible consumer fireworks (ground-based only) are legal only during state-designated periods. Aerial fireworks remain illegal. Fireworks are prohibited on all publicly owned property and in hazardous fire areas near the McDowell Sonoran Preserve.

In Scottsdale's hazardous fire areas, anyone owning, leasing, or controlling a building or adjacent land must keep a 30-foot firebreak clear of flammable vegetation around it at all times. The fire code official can widen that zone to 100 feet on extra-hazardous lots, and unresponsive owners face city-ordered clearing billed back as a property lien.

Scottsdale bans abandoning a vehicle on any street, highway, road or public property, and treats a vehicle left unmoved for 72 hours in the right-of-way as prima facie abandoned. Police tag the vehicle with written notice giving 3 days to move it or face a violation, and 6 days before towing and storage under City Code Section 17-108.

Scottsdale Code Section 17-106(1) bars stopping, standing, or parking wherever the curb is painted red or an official sign prohibits it. It is the first item on a citywide list of no-stopping locations enforced through the City's parking notice-of-violation process.

Scottsdale Code Section 17-119 lets the city post passenger and freight curb loading zones with signed hours, and limits passenger zone stops to three minutes and freight zone use to unloading and loading between 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. except Sundays and holidays.

Scottsdale's Green Construction Code requires new hotels, apartments, condos and most commercial buildings to dedicate a share of parking to electric vehicle charging. Section 501.3.7.3 sets minimum percentages of 'EV installed' and 'EV capable' spaces by occupancy group, plus wiring capacity and panel-labeling specs for each.

Scottsdale Code Section 17-117 lets the city designate permit parking zones with signs or markings, and bars anyone from parking there without a permit issued by the city manager or a designee clearly displayed in the vehicle. Violators face the standard $15 base penalty fee.

Scottsdale Code Section 17-129 bars storing any vehicle, trailer, or watercraft on a street, highway or other public property for more than 72 consecutive hours, and lets police tag and eventually tow a stored vehicle after a two-stage written notice.

Scottsdale's zoning ordinance, Section 7.200(I), caps parking and driveway area in a single-family front yard at the lesser of 35% of the yard or 30 linear feet of lot frontage, and sets minimum setbacks for any vehicle, including RVs, boats and trailers, parked there.

Scottsdale regulates street parking under Revised Code Chapter 17, Article V (Stopping, Standing and Parking). Time-limited parking zones are posted and enforced. No parking is permitted in areas signed or marked for restriction by the city.

Scottsdale Code Section 17-113 bars parking or storing a commercially registered vehicle with a chassis rated over one ton, or any vehicle longer than 22 feet, on residential streets or alleys, except while loading, unloading, delivering, or making a service call at a residence. Violators face a $15 base fine, $30 if unpaid.

Scottsdale outlaws barbed wire, razor wire, razor ribbon, concertina wire and electrified fencing on residential land citywide under Sec. 18-14(a). The only exception is livestock fencing on rural residential lifestyle land that meets Arizona Game and Fish wildlife-compatible fencing guidelines and stays within the city's normal fence height limits.

Scottsdale only exempts fences from a building permit if they stand 3 feet or less. Under City Code § 31-5, amending IBC Section 105.2, any fence taller than 3 feet (0.9144m) falls outside the exemption list and needs a building permit before construction.

Scottsdale exempts retaining walls from a building permit only if they are 3 feet or less and do not redirect stormwater, support a surcharge, or hold Class I, II or IIIA liquids. City Code § 31-5 spells out those three conditions that strip the exemption regardless of height.

In Scottsdale's R1-190 single-family district, walls, fences and hedges can rise 8 feet by right along the property line or in the side and rear yards, up to 12 feet if set back 60 feet from the side or rear line, but only 3 feet in the front yard or required front setback. Corner lots carry an added sight-distance rule.

Scottsdale's Planned Regional Center (PRC) zoning district allows veterinary and pet care service as a permitted use, but Code Sec. 5.2605 requires the indoor operation to sit inside a soundproof building. Outdoor animal activity is allowed only if an attendant stays with the animal, waste is cleaned up immediately, the outdoor area sits at least 100 feet from any residential-district lot line, and outdoor kennel boarding never happens.

Scottsdale addresses animal hoarding through Scottsdale Revised Code Chapter 4 keeping limits and Maricopa County Animal Care & Control field investigations; criminal cruelty is prosecuted under Arizona Revised Statutes §13-2910 as a class 1 misdemeanor or class 6 felony.

Scottsdale does not ban dogs by breed. Instead, § 4-31 of the Code of Ordinances defines a vicious animal as any carnivore that has a propensity to bite human beings without provocation, and that label only attaches after a hearing before a justice of the peace or city magistrate. Once declared vicious, § 4-40(g) lets the county enforcement agent destroy the animal on that judge's order after notice and a further hearing.

Scottsdale's Code of Ordinances § 4-39 bans letting any dog run at large: each dog must stay confined to the owner's property or be on a leash no longer than six feet and under the owner's direct physical control whenever it's off that property. A qualifying leash must be a chain, rope or strap of leather, fabric or similar material strong enough to restrain the dog. Violating the section is a class 3 misdemeanor.

Scottsdale's Code of Ordinances § 4-17 lets residents keep cattle, horses, sheep, goats, dogs, cats, birds and fowl, but every pen, stall, cage or yard must stay free of flies, rodents, odors and manure buildup that creates a public health nuisance. A pigsty or piggery cannot sit on marshy ground, within 200 feet of any stream, canal or water source, or within 300 feet of an inhabited house or occupied building on an adjoining property.

Scottsdale folds rainwater harvesting into its stormwater and floodplain rules rather than regulating it separately. Development must generally provide stormwater storage sized for a 100-year, 2-hour storm, but the Floodplain Administrator can approve rainwater harvesting as a substitute for some or all of that required storage.

Scottsdale makes the owner of property next to a street responsible for mowing and trimming the plants and trees on the adjacent right-of-way, and separately bars any tree, hedge or shrub from interfering with public use of that right-of-way at all.

Scottsdale's code allows composting as one lawful way to dispose of animal waste from pens, stables, yards and cages, as long as it happens often enough to prevent a nuisance or health hazard. The code defines composting narrowly as a controlled condition where organic material decomposes and stabilizes.

Scottsdale's property maintenance code caps grass at six inches under Sec. 18-9(a)(4), banning poison oak, poison ivy and weeds along with any dead, dry or overgrown plant growth on any land in the city. Sec. 18-9(b) extends the same limit to the adjacent street right-of-way through to the centerline of the alley.

Scottsdale caps how much of a lot can be planted in water-intensive landscape or turf. For a new single-family home permitted on or after August 15, 2023, Sec. 49-248 confines that turf to a fenced or walled rear or side yard, while separate percentage caps in Secs. 49-245 through 49-247 apply to schools, resorts, commercial lots and model homes.

Scottsdale's Native Plant Ordinance (Chapter 46, Article V) protects indigenous desert plants citywide. Removal or relocation of protected native plants requires a Native Plant program submission. Violations carry fines up to $10,000. The ordinance covers saguaro cacti, palo verde trees, mesquite, ironwood, and dozens of other protected species.

Scottsdale's Native Plant Ordinance (Chapter 46, Article V) is one of the most comprehensive in Arizona, protecting dozens of indigenous desert plant species. The Zoning Ordinance Article X (Landscaping Requirements) mandates native and drought-tolerant plantings in new development. Violations of native plant protections carry fines up to $10,000.

Scottsdale's Zoning Ordinance lets a resident run a small in-home day care by right: a 'Day care home' watching no more than four unrelated people needs no conditional use permit and shows up as a flat 'Permitted' use on the residential zoning tables. Cross the four-person line and the operation shifts into a different, more heavily regulated use category.

Scottsdale's Zoning Ordinance permits a 'home occupation' only when a family member runs it on the premises, it stays clearly incidental to living there, generates no commodity sales and no more traffic than is normal for the neighborhood, and carries no signs, buildings or structures beyond what the district already allows. A carport or garage can never be used for the business.

Above-ground pools in Scottsdale that can hold water over 18 inches deep are subject to Arizona's pool safety requirements (ARS §36-1681). A 5-foot barrier is required, and access ladders must be removable or lockable when the pool is not in use. Building permits may be required depending on the pool's size and installation.

Pool barriers in Scottsdale must comply with Arizona's Residential Swimming Pool Safety Act (ARS §36-1681), which requires a minimum 5-foot barrier around all residential pools. Gates must be self-closing and self-latching from the pool side. Scottsdale enforces these requirements through the building permit process and code enforcement.

Scottsdale bars selling an ADU separately from the main house and requires a recorded deed restriction before a Restricted-Affordable Detached ADU can be occupied. That unit type can only be rented to households at or below 80 percent of area median income and can never be listed as a vacation or short-term rental.

Scottsdale allows up to two Accessory Dwelling Units on lots under an acre and three, including one Restricted-Affordable unit, on acre-plus lots. Sizes top out at 1,000 square feet or 75 percent of the main home, and the Zoning Administrator's approval decision on the required development application cannot be appealed.

Converting an existing garage or other building into a Scottsdale Accessory Dwelling Unit requires meeting the full ADU chapter, including sleeping, kitchen, and sanitary facilities plus building and fire code compliance, under Sec. 7.903. The converted unit still counts against the lot's ADU density and size caps.

Scottsdale limits backyard sheds and other accessory buildings to residential lots where the main house is already under construction, capping their footprint at 30 percent of the rear yard (75 percent in the R-5 district) under Zoning Ordinance Sec. 7.200.A. Placement rules bar sheds from front and side yards and set specific setbacks from property lines and alleys.

Scottsdale requires outdoor wood-burning fireplaces, woodstoves, fire pits and similar smoker-style devices to sit at least 8 feet from a neighboring property line, or 10 feet in a zero lot line subdivision, under Section 2116 of the city's amended masonry chapter. Construction and alteration of these devices needs a building permit and inspection, with only the masonry surround exempt.

Scottsdale bans charcoal burners, chimineas, barbecues and other open-flame cooking devices from combustible balconies and from within 10 feet of combustible construction. One- and two-family homes are exempt, and a narrow exception allows gas grills on sprinklered multifamily balconies with a small LP-gas tank.

Scottsdale requires a permit for outdoor fireplaces, fire pits and gas or solid-fuel cooking devices under City Code § 31-26, and sets an 8-foot setback from neighboring property lines (10 feet on zero-lot-line lots), except the masonry surround itself, which needs no permit.

Scottsdale's Stormwater Regulation article applies citywide, not just inside mapped floodplains, and requires post-development runoff to leave a site the way it did before development. Projects that would raise flood potential on or off their own parcel are barred, and larger watercourses trigger a mandatory drainage easement dedicated to the city.

Scottsdale adopts FEMA's flood insurance study and rate maps by reference to draw its Special Flood Hazard Areas, with the City Council sitting as the Floodplain Board over them. Inside a mapped floodway, new fill, construction, or other development is flatly prohibited unless a registered engineer certifies it will not raise flood levels during a base flood.

In Scottsdale's Natural Area Open Space (NAOS), Sec. 6.1100.B.6 allows homeowners in Wildland/Urban Interface and Intermix areas to clear flash fuels, including invasive annual grasses, within 30 feet of a habitable structure for fire safety, but the clearing cannot destroy protected native plants within that NAOS buffer.

Scottsdale requires one extra foot of freeboard above the FEMA base flood elevation for new and substantially improved homes in mapped Special Flood Hazard Areas. The city calls this the Regulatory Flood Elevation and ties the lowest floor, including any basement, to it in Zones AE, AH, and A1-30, with a licensed engineer or surveyor required to certify the finished elevation.

In Scottsdale's Environmentally Sensitive Lands (ESL) Hillside Landform, Zoning Ordinance Sec. 6.1070.C requires all storm runoff to be directed toward natural channels using best practices for erosion control, and bars construction within 20 feet of boulder features to guard against boulder rolling, rockfalls and landsliding on steep terrain.

Scottsdale has opted out of allowing recreational marijuana businesses. City Code § 25-4 prohibits the operation of any marijuana establishment in the City, with one narrow exception for a dual licensee that jointly operates a licensed nonprofit medical dispensary and a marijuana establishment at the same shared location.

Arizona's Smart and Safe Arizona Act (Proposition 207, 2020) permits adults 21+ to cultivate up to 6 marijuana plants per person (maximum 12 per household with 2+ adults) for personal use. Plants must be grown in an enclosed, locked space not visible to the public. Scottsdale does not impose additional restrictions beyond state law.

Scottsdale doubles the height and area allowed for on-premise commercial post-and-panel signs sitting behind a dedicated scenic corridor easement or against the Loop 101 Pima Freeway frontage road: 10 feet and 32 square feet instead of the standard 5 feet and 16 square feet, under Sec. 8.600.

Scottsdale caps window signs at one per use and nine square feet per window panel, and any sign placed within three feet of the glass counts as a window sign. Internal illumination is allowed only with exposed neon, and product advertising on a window sign is banned outright under Sec. 8.417.

Arizona law (HB 2500) restricts municipalities from enforcing local temporary sign laws against political signs during election season. Political signs in residential areas may be up to 16 square feet; in other areas up to 32 square feet. All temporary signs, including political signs, are prohibited in the public right-of-way.

Scottsdale code inspectors can designate rental housing as slum property under Sec. 18-100 after an inspection finds structurally unsound conditions, missing sanitation, or hazardous wiring, giving the owner 30 days to correct the violation before the designation is recorded against the land. Sec. 18-102 lets the city separately declare any structure an imminent hazard unfit for human habitation and order it vacated.

Scottsdale requires owners of vacant lots used for off-road driving or parking to stop it: Sec. 18-9.2 makes the owner responsible for taking measures, such as a fence, ditch and berm, or posts at four-foot intervals, to prevent future use of the lot by motor vehicles, motorcycles, dune buggies, jeeps or similar engine-powered recreational vehicles once that use has occurred.

Scottsdale measures light trespass at the property line, six feet above grade, with the meter facing the lit property. Non-residential or multi-family light spilling onto single-family land is capped at 0.3 foot candles, and single-family-to-single-family spillover is capped at 0.1 foot candles under Sec. 7.602.

Scottsdale's Zoning Ordinance requires shields, downward-directed sources, and full cutoff fixtures once a luminaire exceeds 3,050 total initial lumens. Detached single-family homes and their accessory buildings skip Development Review Board review; almost everything else needs DRB sign-off before the fixture goes in.

Scottsdale's building code requires every habitable room, bathroom and toilet room to have heating capable of holding at least 68°F. City Code § 31-23 sets that floor as the City's minimum interior-environment standard, based on Phoenix's 34°F winter design temperature, and bars space heaters or the oven from being used to meet it.

Scottsdale's commercial roll-off program bills a flat $651.05 fee covering three tons per pull on 20, 30 or 40 cubic-yard containers, with $49.23 per extra ton and a $57.20 compactor surcharge. Containers held over 15 work days without a requested pull draw a daily holding fee.

Scottsdale requires residential refuse and recycling carts at the curbline only within a tight window: never before 6:00 p.m. the evening before pickup, and pulled back off the curb the same day the truck empties them. Blocking access to a set-out container is a separate offense, and violations carry escalating civil fines.

Scottsdale residents with 90-gallon containers must place them at the curb on scheduled collection days under Sec. 24-17, not before 6:00 p.m. the night before, and remove them the same day they are emptied. Container weight limits and a prohibited-materials list govern the recycling program, with noncompliance risking discontinued service.

Scottsdale residents with ninety-gallon carts must hold containers off the curb until 6:00 p.m. the evening before pickup and pull them back in the same day they're emptied. Citywide, no refuse or recycling truck may run a route between 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. under the Solid Waste Services chapter of the city code.

Scottsdale's curbside recycling program bans seven categories of material from the blue cart, from animal and human waste to construction debris and general refuse. Repeat noncompliance costs a household its recycling service and its container, though the code sets out a written-notice and reinstatement path first.

Scottsdale requires yard trimmings to go out as containable rubbish, in closed boxes, or bagged, with tree branches and trunks cut to six-foot maximum lengths and no bag or box over sixty pounds. Cacti and century plants need lidded boxes so they don't injure collection crews.

Scottsdale bans dumping outright: Sec. 18-6 makes it unlawful for anyone to throw, deposit or dump litter or debris on any land, public or private, and allows storage only in a lidded receptacle or inside a building. A property turned into a dumping ground for litter, debris or three or more junked vehicles is separately declared a public nuisance under Sec. 18-5(3).

Scottsdale caps bulk rubbish piles at 10 feet long, 6 feet wide and 4 feet high, set out no earlier than three days before and no later than 5:00 a.m. on collection Monday. Business establishments get no city bulk service at all and must haul their own.

Scottsdale mobile food vendors must keep a four-foot sidewalk clearance in every direction at their vending spot, stay in a legal parking space at least 50 feet from any intersection, and cap a single spot's use at six hours in any 24-hour period under the city's mobile food vendor article.

Scottsdale confines mobile food vending to zoning districts that allow the use. Code Section 16-655(I) bars operating in, or within 250 feet of, residentially zoned land unless the vendor is a licensed neighborhood street vendor, caps units to one legal parking space, and keeps trucks 50 feet clear of intersections.

Scottsdale requires every mobile food vendor to hold a City license under Section 16-653, separate from the state health permit. The license runs one year, is nontransferable, and starts at a $350 initial fee plus a $50 annual renewal and a $10 City fingerprint fee.

Scottsdale requires anyone soliciting door to door or in public for a charitable purpose to get a permit from the Financial Services Department first. Applications go in at least ten days ahead, solicitation is capped to the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and permits run up to a year.

Scottsdale city parks, including their parking areas, are open only from sunrise until 10:30 p.m. under Sec. 20-35, unless a city permit or the general manager authorizes different hours. Being on park premises outside those hours independently violates Sec. 20-31(b)(12) and is punishable as a class 2 misdemeanor.

Scottsdale bars minors under sixteen from public places away from home between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m., and bars sixteen and seventeen year olds between midnight and 5:00 a.m. Parents who knowingly allow a violation face the same class 1 misdemeanor charge as an adult offender.

Scottsdale caps how much of a residential rear yard accessory buildings and structures can cover. Under Zoning Ordinance Sec. 7.200, sheds, casitas, garages and similar accessory structures cannot occupy more than 30% of the rear yard, with a 75% allowance for multifamily R-5 lots.

In Scottsdale's largest-lot single-family district, R1-190, the Zoning Ordinance sets a 60-foot front yard, a 30-foot side yard on each side, and a 60-foot rear yard, with corner lots required to hold the 60-foot front setback on both street frontages. Main buildings on adjacent lots must also sit at least 60 feet apart.

Scottsdale caps single-family building height at thirty (30) feet in the R1-43, R1-35, and R1-18 districts under Zoning Ordinance Sec. 5.104.D, 5.204.D, and 5.304.D. Within the Environmentally Sensitive Lands overlay and Foothills Overlay, R1 districts drop to a twenty-four (24) foot cap under Sec. 6.1070.B.1.b, unless a Sec. 6.1022 exemption applies.

Scottsdale requires every public and private street contiguous to a development to be landscaped under an approved landscape plan, with street-side plantings following Arizona Department of Water Resources criteria. Zoning-district tables add specific street tree requirements, and trees generally must meet a 15-gallon minimum size under Sec. 10.306 and Sec. 10.501.

Scottsdale requires a city permit before any motion picture or television production uses a public street, alley, right-of-way, facility or place, reviewed by fire, police, risk management and traffic engineering staff, with denial possible for undue traffic congestion or public risk.

Scottsdale adopted the 2021 International Green Construction Code by reference, applying sustainability, water, energy, and materials standards to commercial and multifamily construction. One- and two-family homes and townhouses up to three stories are exempt, and LEED or Green Globes certification satisfies the code automatically.

Scottsdale's building official can order any inspection needed to verify code compliance beyond the standard required list, plus special inspections for complex electrical work like lightning protection or buried grounding grids. Temporary occupancy before final inspection requires a cash deposit of at least $2,500.

Scottsdale's zoning code ties a day care center's location to its distance from housing: under Table 11.201.A of § 11.201, a day care center with a drop-off or outdoor play area more than 100 feet from a residential district is permitted by right in most commercial and industrial zones, but the same use within 100 feet of a residential district needs a conditional use permit reviewed case by case.

Scottsdale enforces the 2020 edition of the National Electrical Code as part of its Building Code, adopted by reference under Section 31-70. Anyone installing, altering or repairing wiring needs a permit under the same Chapter 31 permit rules that cover the city's other adopted construction codes.

Scottsdale adopted the 2021 International Plumbing Code, renamed locally the 'Plumbing Code of the City of Scottsdale,' as part of its Building Code under Sections 31-80 and 31-81. Local amendments set minimum sewer depth and water service pipe sizing on top of the adopted code's fixture and permit rules.

Scottsdale requires an automatic sprinkler system, installed to NFPA 13, 13-R, or 13-D, throughout every new Group R residential occupancy, regardless of square footage. A short list of accessory structures like small storage sheds and detached carports under specific size caps are exempt.

Scottsdale amends IBC Section 105 to run its own annual-permit and exemption system. City Code § 31-5 lets the building official issue annual permits for repeat minor work, sets a Dec. 31 expiration with Dec. 15 renewal, and lists specific work, like small sheds under 200 square feet, that needs no permit at all.

Scottsdale's amended Fire Code requires at least one elevator in any building four or more stories above or below grade to be sized for fire department emergency access to every floor, big enough to carry a standard ambulance stretcher in the open, horizontal position, and marked with the emergency medical 'star of life' symbol.

Reserving a Scottsdale park facility for a gathering requires a permit under Sec. 20-33, which must state the facility, any maximum capacity, and required insurance and indemnification terms. The general manager or any city police officer can revoke it for a violation, with no fee refund and a 180-day bar on new permits for the same use.

A block party or other event closing a Scottsdale street needs a standard special-event permit under Sec. 22-5 whenever it impedes or disrupts normal street use. Sec. 22-8 requires a route map, requested city services, and a Notification Plan to solicit comments from affected neighbors and businesses before the closure is approved.

Scottsdale regulates recurring outdoor vendor fairs as "farmers markets" under Sec. 22-3, capping any single location at once per week and 52 events a year under Sec. 22-7(c). Organizers must still disclose vendors and concessions on their special-events permit application and meet the chapter's general noise, sanitation and trash-management criteria.

Scottsdale Code Article VI requires a parade permit before anyone may organize or hold a parade, march or procession on a city street or public place, with applications due 30 to 90 days ahead and city review within 10 days under Sections 17-136 through 17-147.

Scottsdale requires a permit for private improvements in the right-of-way (PIR) before anyone builds or installs anything private in a public street, sidewalk or easement area. The Right-of-Way Supervisor decides whether a PIR or a work permit (PWR) applies, and that call is final.

Scottsdale places the sidewalk squarely on the adjacent property owner's maintenance list. Sec. 47-47(f) names the sidewalk, the adjoining right-of-way strip, the adjacent alley, and any multi-use path or trail as things the owner must keep up unless the city has authorized otherwise in writing.

Scottsdale bars placing or maintaining anything in the public right-of-way, which by code includes the sidewalk, without written city authorization. Only a short list of low-profile improvements is exempt; everything else needs a permit, and unauthorized encroachments draw daily civil fines and city-ordered removal at the owner's expense.

Scottsdale Code § 19-26 makes it a civil offense for any business serving alcohol or hosting live entertainment to create unreasonable noise that disturbs a residential district containing dwellings. Noise measured at or above 68 dB(A) is presumed unreasonable. Scottsdale police officers or City Manager-designated employees enforce the rule, and a sound meter is optional evidence, not a requirement.

Scottsdale's Natural Area Open Space (NAOS) is otherwise kept in permanent natural condition, but Sec. 6.1100.B.5 permits removal of man-made dumping piles and specified invasive, non-indigenous plants and weeds within NAOS, subject to the City's specific approval before any clearing begins.

Scottsdale cannot enforce a plastic bag ban or fee. A.R.S. § 9-500.38 declares regulation of auxiliary containers a matter of statewide concern, preempting all Arizona cities and towns. Scottsdale's Solid Waste Division promotes voluntary plastic-film recycling at retailer drop-offs.

Scottsdale makes it a class 3 misdemeanor under Sec. 19-21 to camp in any public park, on public streets or in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve without a city permit, defining camping broadly to include tents, bedding, cooking or living in a parked vehicle. Sec. 19-23 separately bans camping in flood-prone washes and watercourses at any time.

Scottsdale Code Section 17-76 splits e-bikes into Class 1 (pedal-assist, cuts off at 20 mph), Class 2 (throttle-assist, cuts off at 20 mph), and Class 3 (pedal-assist, cuts off at 28 mph). Section 17-77.1 bars anyone under 16 from riding a Class 3 on city property, and Section 17-86 bans Class 3 bikes from every city sidewalk.

Scottsdale Code Section 17-106(19) bars any motor vehicle from stopping, standing, or parking within a designated bicycle or turn lane, one item on a longer list of places where stopping is off-limits citywide unless traffic conditions or an officer's direction require it.

Scottsdale account holders own every leak past their meter and must report unexplained usage to the Utility Billing Department within six months to qualify for a reduced-rate credit under City Code Sec. 49-46.

Scottsdale pays property owners to remove lawn: the Water Conservation Office's Turf to Xeriscape rebate covers $2 per square foot of turf removed and replaced with low-water-use plants, capped at $5,000 for single-family homes, plus a bonus $5 per linear foot for turf pulled along a street-facing frontage. New single-family homes permitted after August 15, 2023 also face a placement rule limiting turf to fenced yards.

Scottsdale Zoning Ordinance § 6.1310 lets a property in the Planned Block Development (PBD) Overlay District request bonus density, building height and gross floor area ratio above the Sec. 6.1308 base standards. City Council approval requires a zoning district map amendment, a development agreement, and public open space tied to the applicable development type.

Scottsdale's Downtown (D) zoning district, applied only within the Old Town Area under Sec. 5.3002, implements the Old Town Plan and the Old Town Scottsdale Urban Design & Architectural Guidelines. Sec. 5.3001 directs the district toward pedestrian-oriented streetscapes, context-sensitive setbacks and desert-sensitive architecture rather than generic commercial building forms.

Scottsdale enforces vector control, meaning rodents, flies and mosquitoes capable of spreading disease, in coordination with county and state rules, and requires every solid-waste user to bag materials so odors and pests can't escape. Noncompliant containers can be pulled from a property.

Scottsdale's neighborhood street vendor law, known locally as Leo's Law, requires anyone applying for a street vending license to already hold a Maricopa County Food Handlers Permit and have their equipment inspected by the county health department within the prior 90 days.

Scottsdale taxes hotel and lodging revenue at 1.70% of gross income under City Code § 444, plus an additional 5% transient lodging tax under § 447, for a combined 6.70% local rate. The Tax Collector, meaning the Financial Services General Manager, administers the tax and requires an annual transaction privilege tax license.

Scottsdale designates its most significant historic resources as a Landmark under Zoning Ordinance Sec. 6.118.I, a status that can attach to a property already inside a Historic Property (HP) District or in conjunction with HP District designation. City Council must adopt findings documenting the property's uniqueness and exceptional significance before Landmark status is recorded on the Scottsdale Historic Register.

Scottsdale caps non-consent towing at $125, including the first 72 hours of storage, and requires posted signs, police notification before a tow, and 24/7 vehicle release. Towing carriers who overcharge or skip notice face minimum fines starting at $250 for a first offense.

Scottsdale requires a sexually oriented business license before conducting an adult service, adult video, or cabaret operation, plus separate manager and adult service provider permits. Applicants submit to fingerprinting and a criminal history check, and violations carry fines up to twenty thousand dollars for an enterprise.

Scottsdale bars anyone from operating as a junk dealer or secondhand dealer without first obtaining a city license under § 16-331, on top of any other required city, county, state or federal license, and the license cannot be transferred between owners or locations.

Scottsdale requires pawnbrokers to hold a city license under § 16-331 and imposes a pawn-specific 20-day holding period on pledged goods, longer than the 10 days required of other reportable dealers, before the property can be sold or returned to circulation.

Scottsdale requires anyone operating a massage facility to hold a city license issued by the director of licensing and revenue. Applicants and controlling persons must be fingerprinted, pass a criminal-history check, and keep an on-site manager present whenever massage therapy is performed.

Scottsdale flatly bars using a home carport or garage for any home occupation, which rules out running a paid auto-repair business from a residential garage. The same zoning definition also blocks material or mechanical equipment beyond normal household or hobby use, and licensed vehicle-repair shops elsewhere in the city must operate inside a fully enclosed commercial building.

Scottsdale bans riding a human-powered skateboard anywhere the City has posted signs prohibiting it (Section 17-86). Motorized skateboards face a far tighter rulebook under Section 17-93: no sidewalks, no roads with four or more lanes or speeds over 25 mph, and no riders under 14.

Scottsdale prohibits smoking or consuming marijuana anywhere in public. City Code § 25-3 makes it a class one misdemeanor to use marijuana on any city, state or school-district property, and a petty offense to smoke or consume it in a public park, sidewalk, walkway or any other public place citywide.

Scottsdale Code Section 17-5 bars pedestrians from crossing a roadway outside a marked crosswalk within the city's central traffic district or in any business district. Crossing mid-block elsewhere in the city is not covered by this section, but the general chapter civil sanction still applies.

Scottsdale makes it a class one misdemeanor to urinate or defecate anywhere exposed to public view, unless it's in a toilet or other suitable facility. Conviction carries a mandatory minimum $150 fine, and the court can add restitution for any city clean-up costs on top of that.

Scottsdale fines any responsible person who permits a nuisance party or unlawful gathering starting at $250 for a first offense, rising to $2,000 for a fourth. Property owners who intentionally allow one face steeper fines starting at $750, and noise over 68 dB(A) at night is presumed excessive.

Since July 2025, Scottsdale bars smoking on or within 50 feet of any playground on city property, covering lit tobacco products and, where the law allows, e-cigarettes. It's a petty offense carrying a mandatory minimum $100 fine, separate from the city's older indoor Smoking Pollution Control Ordinance.

Scottsdale bans drinking or possessing spirituous liquor in an open container anywhere in a city park under Code Sec. 20-31(b)(3). Beer and wine in open non-glass containers are allowed only with a city beer-and-wine permit issued under Sec. 20-34, and full-strength liquor is allowed only at Solstice Park under a special-event liquor license.

Scottsdale Tax Code § 400 imposes a privilege tax measured by gross income on every business activity classified under Article IV, from retail and restaurants to construction contracting and advertising. Businesses must first obtain a Tax Collector-issued transaction privilege and use tax license under Sec. 300 before engaging in a taxable activity.