Arizona's Growth Is Outpacing Its Approval Systems — And It's Costing Developers

As seen in the Arizona Capitol Times, April 2026

A recent commentary piece in the Arizona Capitol Times highlights a tension that anyone working in Arizona development knows well: the state is growing fast, but the systems that approve development aren't keeping up.

A few points worth noting:

Phoenix is now the fifth-largest city in the U.S., and demand for housing, retail, and infrastructure is accelerating. But the entitlement process — the period before a construction permit can even be requested — routinely takes six months to a year or more. That gap creates real financial risk for developers who must hire engineers, architects, and attorneys long before knowing whether a project will get approved.

The piece also points to a systemic issue: planning departments are stretched thin, not because they're doing poor work, but because the volume and complexity of development proposals has grown faster than their capacity to review them.

The central argument is that earlier access to clear zoning information benefits everyone — developers can make smarter go/no-go decisions upfront, and planning departments receive better-prepared proposals that are more likely to succeed.

Read the full article in the Arizona Capitol Times →

Written by Ali Fakih, Phoenix-based civil engineer and CEO of SEG and AIAEC.