What must be finished before a Chandler business gets its certificate of occupancy?

Section 35-1907 is titled "Site development compliance for certificate of occupancy." It lists six on-site improvements, "including but not limited to": (a) landscape and irrigation; (b) outdoor lighting for buildings and parking areas; (c) landscape and paving area walkways; (d) parking areas paved and striped, and covered parking structures completed; (e) six-inch vertical concrete or precast curb in place where required; and (f) complete cleanup of trash and construction materials.

Those "shall be completed and accepted prior to issuance of a certificate of occupancy," with one exception. If the Zoning Administrator finds that weather or other acts of God prevented compliance, the Zoning Administrator may extend compliance "for a maximum period of thirty (30) days." The section adds that "Noncompliance with such extension shall result in automatic revocation of the certificate of occupancy." Three more rules close it out: the improvements can be installed in phases, with no certificate for any phase until that phase's improvements are complete and accepted; all sign permits must be obtained before occupancy; and compliance is recorded in writing and released through the Zoning Administrator to the Building Code Enforcement Manager.

• Completed and accepted: both. Work that is installed but not accepted does not count. The section does not say who accepts each item.
• Including but not limited to: the six items are examples. The code does not say which other improvements count.
• Zoning Administrator: the city official who grants the weather extension. The extension is up to 30 days, not an open-ended delay.
• Certificate of occupancy: the city's authorization to occupy. This section sits in the zoning code, Chapter 35.

Section 35-1901 says the article applies, in Planned Area Development, commercial, industrial, mobile home, multiple-family and single-family zoning, to new construction, altering a floor or site plan in a way that intensifies a use (more parking, occupancy, outdoor display or storage), starting a new use on vacant property, changing one use to another as determined under the Zoning Code, expanding a use onto more land (only the expansion area), and adding on to an existing building.

It does not cover everything. An addition under 20 percent of the existing floor area or 2,500 square feet, whichever is less, is exempt from the article, although landscaping under 35-1906 and corner obstruction rules still apply. And the repair of a building's walls or roof, renovation of a facade, or repair of existing screen walls, fences, parking surfaces and landscape features, none of which fall into the activities above, is exempt.

The numbering is also new. Ordinance 5142, adopted November 13, 2025, renumbered former section 35-1904 as 35-1907, so older references to 35-1904 point here.

A new medical office. Plumbing and building finals are signed, but the irrigation clock is not installed and the plants are not in. The certificate waits.

A late-summer storm. Rain washes out a planting date. The owner asks the Zoning Administrator for the 30-day extension. If the work is still not done when the extension ends, the certificate is revoked automatically.

A phased shopping center. Phase one opens. Phase two's pad sites need their own landscape, lighting and paving accepted before their certificate.

The edge case: the addition. A small addition below the 20 percent or 2,500 square foot line is exempt from the article, but 35-1901 still requires landscaping under 35-1906 for it. The same project becomes fully covered once it crosses the line.

1. 1Walk the six items before the final inspection and list what is incomplete.
2. 2Do not leave irrigation for last. Chandler's homeowner manual says a permit is needed to install an irrigation system, with no plan review, and that the inspector checks the anti-siphon valve or pressure backflow preventer. See our irrigation permit page.
3. 3Get sign permits in hand before the tenant moves in.
4. 4If weather is the problem, ask the Zoning Administrator for the extension before the date you need the certificate. Development Services' Planner of the Day line is 480-782-3050.
5. 5Check that backflow assemblies were approved on the plans (see 52-36(H)), and that development fees were paid, since 38-11 says no certificate of occupancy issues if a fee is unpaid.

• Myth: Plumbing final means we can open. The certificate also needs the site improvements in 35-1907.
• Myth: The weather extension is open-ended. The maximum is 30 days.
• Myth: Signs can wait. All sign permits must be obtained before occupancy.
• Myth: The citation is 35-1904. That number was renumbered as 35-1907 by Ordinance 5142.

This page explains the code. The adopted text on Municode governs.