Schools

General Provisions
a. home based or commercially based microschools are a commercial Use.
All structures/buildings must comply with current adopted versions of the International Building Code, Fire Code, and residential codes for the greatest number of students & staff expected to be present at a home-based or commercial-based micro school at any time.
b. all requirements for private schools above shall apply, but the property only needs to be 1 acre instead of 5.
c. it is recommended that applicants make an appointment with Building Safety.

Rules for Microschools that are specific to rural zones:
a. home-based micro schools may only be located in the following zones: CAR, SR, SH, GR, Rural zoning districts, and Rural Commercial districts.
b. a home-based micro school needs a Special Use Permit with a reapplication required after 5 years.
c. Approval of a Special Use Permit to have a home-based micro-school is a change in land use and will require building code compliance as well as compliance with the Development service code.
d. Approval of an application for a Special Use Permit for a home-based Microschool will require applicant to provide a traffic memo, and in some cases a traffic impact analysis.
e. refer to PCDSC 2.150.260 for signage requirements
f. Manufactured homes are not allowed for home-based microschools
g. you can’t have a home-based micro school within 1200 ft of a homebred or commercially based microschool
h. the total area of structures used for the home based micro school may not be more than 30% of the total structures on the property.
i. home based microschools have additional requirements beyond a private dwelling. There needs to be 30ft2 per student
j. if you have 6 or more people at any time for educational purposes, you are considered an E occupancy and must comply with all E occupancy requirements including ADA, accessibility, and egress
k. if a floor below grade is used for a home based micro school it has to have at least 1 emergency escape window that complies with the code for such.
l. Pinal County can require home based microschools to comply with all building codes and provisions that don’t conflict with the rules above including parking, traffic, hours of operation, and any regulations on the location of the home-based micro school that the county thinks is necessary to preserve the health safety and character of the surrounding community.
see page 156 of 

A commercially based micro school
-has a right to be in zones CB-1, CB-2, C-1 C-2, C-3, CI-1, i-2, CI-B, I-1
-There are a lot of site plan requirements including a traffic impact analysis
-A commercially based micro school has to comply with all building safety and zoning regulations for that zone.
-Pinal County can require commercially based microschools to comply with all building codes and provisions that don’t conflict with the rules above including parking, traffic, hours of operation, and any regulations on the location of the home based micro school that the county thinks is necessary to preserve the health safety and character of the surrounding community.


I made notes on the proposed draft regarding schools below. Keep in mind that I am subject to error so please check the source pages and links that I provide. Please let me know right away if you notice any errors! I would love to know what people’s impressions of these rules are, especially those that work with schooling children in their homes! Do you think these rules will help make it easier for microschools to exist in Pinal County or not? Are they reasonable? Please forward this to any microschool/homeschool groups in Pinal county so that we can understand how this affects them


SCHOOLS Chapter 2.150.280 p. 154 of the marked up draft 1/16/25
The following has not been changed significantly regarding schools from the previous draft:
A. Public schools are permitted in all Zoning Districts
B. Private schools for k-12 need to be at least on 1 acre,
playgrounds & fields need to be 100 ft from property lines,
there needs to be a 10 ft wide landscaped area for screening and buffering along all property lines
all driveways & parking lots need to be paved, outdoor lighting needs to meet the requirements of PCDSC 2.195
all outdoor lighting for recreational areas has to be off no later than 11pm
C. Charter Schools prohibited from operating in an existing single-family residence that is on less than 1 acre
See page 154 of the 1/16/25 draft https://drive.google.com/file/d/10OUEtCb0APT7ks4rTZDbRydE8ynyHrEZ/view
The proposed update has a new section of rules regarding Microschools.
Definitions p. 32
Home-Based Microschool: is a Structure or Building in a rural zoning district on a parcel of not less than 1 acre,
operated between hours of 7am and 6pm AZ time Monday through Friday
educates not more than 15 K-8 students at any time, and excludes grades 9-12
Commercially-Based Microschool is a Structure or Building in a commercial or industrial zone,
-on a parcel not less than 1 acre,
-operated between 7am and 6pm AZ time, Monday through Friday,
-educates not more than 49 K-12 students at any time.
To find these definitions you have to look for “school, micro” in the document
(See page 156 of the marked up draft https://drive.google.com/file/d/10OUEtCb0APT7ks4rTZDbRydE8ynyHrEZ/view
General Provisions
a. home based or commercially based microschools are a commercial Use.
All structures/buildings must comply with current adopted versions of International Building code, Fire code, and residential codes for the greatest number of students & staff expected to be present at a home based or commercial based micro school at any time.
b. all requirements for private schools above shall apply, but the property only needs to be 1 acre instead of 5.
c. it is recommended that applicants make an appoointment with Building safety
Rules for Microschools that are specific to rural zones:
a. home based micro school may only be located in the following zones: CAR, SR, SH, GR, Rural zoning districts and Rural Commercial districts.
b. a home based micro school needs a Special Use Permit with a reapplication required after 5 years.
c. Approval of an Special Use Permit to have a home based micro school is a change in land use and will require building code compliance as well as compliance with the Development service code.
d. Approval of an application for a Special Use Permit for a home based Microschool will require applicant to provide a traffic memo, and in some cases a traffic impact analysis.
e. refer to PCDSC 2.150.260 for signage requirements
f. Manufactured homes are not allowed for home based microschools
g. you can’t have a home based micro school within 1200 ft of a homebred or commercially based microschool
h. the total area of structures used for the home based micro school may not be more than 30% of the total structures on the property.
i. home based microschools have additional requirements beyond a private dwelling. There needs to be 30ft2 per student
j. if you have 6 or more people at any time for educational purposes, you are considered an E occupancy and must comply with all E occupancy requirements including ADA, accessibility and egress
k. if a floor below grade is used for a home based micro school it has to have at least 1 emergency escape window that complies with the code for such.
l. Pinal county can require home based microschools to comply with all building codes and provisions that don’t conflict with the rules above including parking, traffic, hours of operation, and any regulations on the location of the home based micro school that the county thinks is necessary to preserve the health safety and character of the surrounding community.
see page 156 of https://drive.google.com/file/d/10OUEtCb0APT7ks4rTZDbRydE8ynyHrEZ/view
A commercially based micro school
has a right to be in zones CB-1, CB-2, C-1 C-2, C-3, CI-1, i-2, CI-B, I-1
-There are a lot of site plan requirements including a traffic impact analysis
-A commercially based micro school has to comply with all building safety and zoning regulations for that zone.
-Pinal county can require commercially based microschools to comply with all building codes and provisions that don’t conflict with the rules above including parking, traffic, hours of operation, and any regulations on the location of the home based micro school that the county thinks is necessary to preserve the health safety and character of the surrounding community.

See this story:
https://ij.org/…/micro-school-entrepreneur-struggles…/