Can you remove a saguaro or build in natural open space in Scottsdale?

Not freely. Scottsdale has a Native Plant Ordinance that protects large cacti and trees native to the area, and the city's page says anyone who removes, relocates or destroys a protected plant needs a native plant permit. The state of Arizona adds its own rules for moving a saguaro over four feet tall. And if part of a lot is a Natural Area Open Space easement, called NAOS, the city's guide says no grading, filling, clearing or excavation of any kind is permitted in it, and that walls, pools and barbecues may not be built there.

I'm Jen Keene, a REALTOR® with eXp Luxury in Scottsdale, AZ, and I'm the agent people call at every stage of their life. If you're looking at a lot with saguaros or natural desert on it, the questions below are worth asking before you plan a pool, an addition or new landscaping, so I've put together what the City of Scottsdale, the State of Arizona and the University of Arizona say, with the source named next to each fact.

This is general information, not legal advice. The city decides what applies to a specific lot, and I could not read the Scottsdale code text itself because the site that hosts it blocks automated readers, so the city rules below come from the city's own pages and guides. I checked each source on November 7, 2026.

The city's Native Plant Ordinance applies citywide, in natural desert and in landscaped areas alike, according to the city's native plant page. The city's list of protected native plants defines a protected plant as a cactus three feet or taller or a tree with a trunk four inches or more in caliper, of the species on the list. The cacti on it are saguaro, barrel cactus, ocotillo, desert night-blooming cereus and soaptree yucca. The trees include ironwood, mesquite, blue palo verde, foothill palo verde, desert willow and several others.

The city's list carries a revision date of December 26, 2017, and the city's guide to the ordinance is dated July 2018, so confirm the current list with the city before you rely on it. The city also notes that this list is not the same as the indigenous plant list it uses for the Environmentally Sensitive Lands overlay.

A native plant permit, and the city's page says permits are issued only along with an approved or proposed development project. For a single-family project, the page says a native plant inventory report and a site plan go in with the building plan review. The city's brochure says any project that affects a plant on the list has to submit a native plant program that shows where each protected plant is now and what is planned for it.

The city's stated preference is that protected plants stay where they are. The guide says plants that have to be moved are required to be salvaged and replanted within the project, unless the applicant can show that poor health or the plant's orientation, for example, makes a successful move impossible. The city also keeps a list of approved salvage contractors, and its list says a company has to be on it before it may inventory or salvage protected plants in Scottsdale.

There are inspections on both ends. The city's page says the applicant schedules a pre-site inspection before salvage begins, and after the plants go to the nursery the salvage contractor schedules a post-inspection and provides a tracking form listing any plants that did not survive, with written reasons required when losses are above 20 percent. I'm describing the city's wording on all of this, and the city itself says its site is in a transition phase, so ask Planning and Development Services for the current steps.

Arizona law says that anyone who moves or salvages a saguaro more than four feet tall from its original location has to buy a permit, tag and seal from the Arizona Department of Agriculture. The statute, A.R.S. 3-906, makes an exception where there is documentation, or a department record, of an earlier legal move of that same saguaro, and for saguaros that people propagated. The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension says the same thing in plainer words: removing a saguaro from private land in Arizona takes a Blue Seal Permit and a Saguaro Tag.

The same University of Arizona guide says a permit is not needed to move a saguaro to a new spot on the same residential property, and it adds that Scottsdale has its own native plant laws and permits for moving saguaros. So the state's permit and the city's permit are two separate things, and having one doesn't mean you have the other. If a lot you're considering has a saguaro near where you want a pool or an addition, ask the city and the Department of Agriculture what applies before you assume it can be moved.

In many cases, yes. Under A.R.S. 3-904 and the state's rule on private landowners, R3-3-1102, a private landowner notifies the Department of Agriculture before destroying protected native plants, on the department's Notice of Intent to Clear Land. Both say the notice isn't required for individually owned residential property of ten acres or less where initial building construction has already occurred. The statute and the rule set waiting periods that depend on the acreage being cleared, and I'm leaving the day counts out because they are the kind of thing to read in the current text.

The two can overlap. The city's submittal list for native plant permits (it says it does not apply to a single-family custom home) asks for a copy of the state's Notice of Intent form, which tells me the city expects the state's notice to be handled alongside its own permit. For a buyer, the practical point is that the state's exemption for a developed residential lot doesn't answer the city's question, so ask the city separately.

NAOS stands for Natural Area Open Space, a part of a lot or a shared tract that is preserved as natural desert, and my post on Scottsdale hillside lots and the ESL ordinance explains how it is set and where it comes from, so I won't repeat that here. What matters for this question is what the city says an owner can't do in it. The city's guide says land designated as NAOS has to be preserved in its natural desert state, that no grading, filling, clearing or excavation of any kind is permitted, and that structures including walls, pools and barbecues may not be built there. The city's form of easement says the owner shall not grade, grub or excavate the easement or build a structure on it.

On plants, the city's guide says all native plant material in NAOS is protected by ordinance regardless of its condition, which means a dead saguaro or tree stays where it is, and that non-native plants may not be planted within an NAOS easement. The guide says the easement should show up on the current complete title report under Schedule B or on the subdivision plat, and that it stays with the property after a sale.

Start with what is on the lot and what is recorded against it.

1. The title report and the plat. Look under Schedule B of the preliminary title report and on the recorded subdivision plat for an NAOS easement, and ask for the easement and its exhibit map, which show where it sits.
2. The plants on the lot. A saguaro or barrel cactus three feet or taller, or a protected tree four inches or more across, is on the city's protected list. Walk the lot with that in mind, and note any that stand where you would put a pool, a casita or a drive.
3. The line between the easement and where things sit now. If a wall, pool or barbecue already sits inside an easement, a licensed surveyor can mark the line, and a land use attorney can tell you what that means for you.
4. Permits and approvals for what is already built, including any city native plant permit tied to the home. Ask the seller what they have.
5. The city's answer for your plan. Planning and Development Services can tell you which review and permits a pool or addition needs on that lot. The city's native plant guide lists Current Planning at (480) 312-2500.
6. The association's documents, which can carry their own landscaping rules. Here's an explanation of HOA rules and regulations in Arizona.

These requests belong inside your inspection period, so ask for them as soon as your offer is accepted. Here's how the inspection period works in Arizona.

The first question is whether the spot is inside an NAOS easement, because if it is, the city's guide says pools may not be built there, and my hillside post covers what the guide says about a release of easement. The second question is whether a protected plant stands where the pool would go. If one does, the city's page says the permit comes with the building project, and the city's stated preference is that protected plants stay in place or are salvaged and replanted within the project. If the plant is a saguaro over four feet tall that has to leave its original spot, the state's permit, tag and seal come into it too.

None of the pages I read promise that a particular plant can be moved or removed, so I'd treat a pool plan that depends on one as unconfirmed until the city has said yes. I have more on pools in my post about buying a home with a pool in Scottsdale.

Send me the address and I'll help you work out which of these questions apply to it and what to ask the city. If you're looking across the area, here's my page on North Scottsdale real estate and here's how buying a home works in Arizona, step by step.

For what applies to a specific lot, the City of Scottsdale decides, and for moving a saguaro the Arizona Department of Agriculture does. A licensed surveyor, civil engineer or land use attorney can speak to what the recorded documents mean for you. When you're ready, get in touch or call me at (480) 203-6605.