Before You Build in Chandler, AZ: Permit & Rule Checklist (2026)

Chandler's Zoning Code sets no blanket fence permit trigger, but a nonresidential wall or fence over six feet built with fence block must have its reinforcement approved by the City of Chandler Building Division before it goes up, under Section 35-2204(8)(b)2.

Chandler caps residential front-yard fences at three feet and side/rear fences at seven feet, and bans any obstruction over two feet tall inside a thirty-foot corner-lot visibility triangle. Nonresidential lots get an eight-foot side/rear allowance under Section 35-2204.

Chandler's Property Maintenance Ordinance treats retaining walls the same as fences and screen walls: they must stay safe and structurally sound and can't be left leaning, damaged, rotting or otherwise blighted. The Neighborhood Resources Department cites owners who let a retaining wall deteriorate through the same Chapter 30 notice-and-citation process used for unsafe buildings.

Every Chandler pool must be enclosed by a 6-to-7-foot masonry, concrete, or decorative metal barrier with no gaps a 4-inch sphere could pass through, and cannot sit in a front yard. The adopted swimming pool code separately sets a 72-inch barrier (or 48 inches for a house wall doubling as the barrier) and requires latching devices on windows facing the pool enclosure.

Chandler only requires a building permit for a prefabricated pool once it holds water 18 inches deep or more. A shallow kiddie or wading pool under that depth is exempt from the permit process entirely, while anything 18 inches or deeper is treated as a full swimming pool subject to permitting and the zoning enclosure rules.

Arizona HB 2720 (effective January 2025) allows ADUs by right on single-family lots in Chandler. Up to 2 ADUs per lot (1 attached, 1 detached). Maximum 1,000 sq ft or 75% of main dwelling. Chandler adopted Ordinance 5113 for compliance.

Chandler allows one attached and one detached accessory dwelling unit by right on any lot where a single-family dwelling is the principal use. Each ADU is capped at 75 percent of the house gross floor area or 1,000 square feet, whichever is less.

A detached one-story shed in Chandler skips a building permit only if it stays at or under 120 square feet and 7 feet tall (up to 9 feet if setback is increased 2 feet for every extra foot of height). Regardless of permit status, zoning caps every accessory building at 15 feet tall, requires district-standard side/rear setbacks, and limits a lot to one accessory building.

Chandler's Fire Code requires an operational permit for any open fire on public or private ground, but Section 105.5.36 carves out one exception: recreational fires. A typical backyard fire pit or chiminea used for cooking or warmth doesn't need a permit from the Fire Marshal, while other open burning, brush piles, bonfires, ceremonial fires, still does.

Outdoor burning is heavily restricted in Chandler under Maricopa County Air Quality Department rules. Wood-burning fire pits, chimineas, and yard waste burning are prohibited on designated no-burn days. MCAQD Rule 314 governs open burning.

Once the Chandler City Council declares a Stage Four Drought, City Code § 52-40 cuts lawn, tree and shrub watering to once a week on days set by the City Manager and confines all landscape irrigation with City potable water to the hours of 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.

Chandler requires the owner or lessor of any developed site to keep installed landscaping watered, fertilized, weeded, mowed and pruned so the property stays clean and attractive, and it flatly bans "cropping" (topping) trees unless needed for traffic safety or overhead power lines. Pruning instead has to follow Western Chapter, International Society of Arboriculture standards, and dead or unhealthy plants must be replaced with the same material shown on the approved landscape plan.

Chandler property owners must keep tree limbs at least 15 feet above any public street or alleyway and at least 8 feet above any public sidewalk, and must not let trees, shrubs or other plant growth block sight lines, traffic signs or street lighting. The Neighborhood Resources Department enforces the standard under the Property Maintenance Ordinance.