Ashley Zimmerman Marsh

Ashley Zimmerman Marsh is a highly accomplished land use and zoning attorney and a trusted leader in the field. As a key member of Gammage & Burnham’s Land Use & Zoning group, Ashley represents a broad spectrum of property owners, developers, and homebuilders throughout the Valley, guiding them through every phase of the zoning and entitlement process with strategic insight and results-driven execution.

Ashley is an attorney with Gammage & Burnham’s Land Use & Zoning group, where she leads complex zoning and land use matters, offering clients comprehensive services from due diligence and rezoning to plan amendments, use permits, variances, development agreements, and post-entitlement development issues including platting and permitting. Known for her collaborative approach, Ashley works closely with clients and their teams to craft tailored strategies that maximize value and drive successful outcomes. Her extensive experience spans a wide range of development projects from infill development to master-planned communities and large industrial parks, ensuring that her clients’ objectives are met with efficiency and precision.

Before joining Gammage & Burnham, Ashley was a Land Use and Zoning Shareholder at a Phoenix-based firm and also practiced complex commercial litigation, handling a broad array of issues, including business, professional liability, construction, catastrophic injury, general liability, and real estate matters. This litigation background has equipped Ashley with exceptional advocacy skills and the ability to navigate multifaceted, high-stakes situations involving multiple stakeholders and forums. Her combined land use and litigation experience enables her to find innovative, practical solutions for complex development challenges.

Ashley has consistently been recognized as a land use and zoning industry leader. She has been consistently named a Southwest Super Lawyers Rising Star since 2020 and been recognized nationally by Business Insider named Ashley as a 30 Under 35 Rising Star in Real Estate.  Locally, Ashley was recognized by AZ Big Media as one of the publication’s “20 Young Commercial Real Estate Leaders to Watch” in 2021 and been named as a “Top Lawyer” by PHOENIX Magazine in 2023 and 2024.  She has also been recognized by Best Lawyers in America.

An Arizona native, Ashley received her Juris Doctorate from the University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law, and her Bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, in 2009.

Court Admissions

• State Bar of Arizona
• The United States District Court for the District of Arizona

Significant Representations

• Plan Amendments and Rezoning:
  • Planned Unit Development (PUD) rezoning to allow for 225-unit affordable housing development despite significant opposition on behalf of top-performing non-profit developer in City of Phoenix.
  • Comprehensive Plan Amendment and rezoning to allow for 1,100 units and multiple housing product types on approximately 114-acres in unincorporated Maricopa County.
  • Development Master Plan (DMP) Amendment and rezoning for master-planned community to allow for introduction of zero-lot line, attached housing product and increase in overall units in unincorporated Maricopa County.
  • General Plan Amendment and rezoning on behalf of national homebuilder from commercial and mixed-use land designation and zoning to residential uses and zoning for creation of new community adjacent to future mountain preserve in City of Phoenix.
  • Rezoning for adaptive reuse project from commercial to multifamily residential despite 400+ person petition of opposition and legal protest in City of Phoenix.
  • Rezoning of approximately 22-acre property from rural to single family residential to allow for 40’ wide lots at 4.8 du/ac in Laveen area requiring super-majority approval in unincorporated Maricopa County.
  • Rezoning, Comprehensive Plan Amendment, Military Compatibility Permit and resolution of utilities issues for large residential development in unincorporated Maricopa County.
  • Comprehensive Plan Amendment, rezoning and successful negotiation not to contribute for future traffic signal for national homebuilder to allow single family residential and commercial uses in unincorporated Maricopa County.
• Planning Hearing Officer Actions:
  • Stipulation modification to remove planting requirements for infill, multifamily project in City of Phoenix.
  • Stipulation modification for prominent restaurant group to allow ingress and egress where previously prohibited on site requiring super-majority approval in City of Phoenix.
• Variances/Use Permits:
  • Use Permit for 54-bed Community Residence Center located within the City of Phoenix.
  • Variances Adjustments of development standards (variances) on behalf of national homebuilders to allow introduction of new product offering in master-planned community and phased residential developments in unincorporated Maricopa County.
• Boards/Commissions/Committees:
  • Presentation to and lobbying of City of Phoenix Village Planning Committees and Planning Commission, and unincorporated Maricopa County Planning & Zoning Commission.
  • Presentation to City of Phoenix Zoning Disability Accommodation Committee to secure unanimous approval of reasonable accommodation on spacing requirement for 54-bed Community Residence Center.
  • Presentation to City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Board for donation of mountain concurrent with rezoning and General Plan Amendment on behalf of national homebuilder.
• Public-Private Agreements
  • Negotiation and facilitation of Intergovernmental Agreements between Maricopa County, City of Glendale and City of Goodyear for roadway improvements in West Valley.
  • Negotiation and facilitation of Intergovernmental Agreement between City of Phoenix and City of Scottsdale water departments for split water and sewer utility service of unincorporated Maricopa County island.
  • Negotiation and drafting of in-lieu fee agreement on behalf of national homebuilder in City of Glendale and in City of Peoria.
  • Negotiation and drafting of lift station agreement concurrent with rezoning and General Plan Amendment on behalf of national homebuilder in City of Phoenix.
  • Negotiation and drafting of multiple assurance agreements to allow for final plat approval without statutorily required bonds for offsite and onsite infrastructure improvements on behalf of multiple national homebuilders in unincorporated Maricopa County.

Professional & Community Involvement

• McDOT Task Force (2023 – Present)
• Young Developers Council (October 2020 – Present)
• NAIOP Arizona, Developing Leaders Steering Committee, ASU Master of Real Estate Development Chair (2019 – Present)
• ULI Arizona, Partnership Forum Group Leader (2019-Present)
• Arizona Women Lawyers Association, Steering Committee and Judicial Appointments Chair (2015 – 2019)
• Arizona Association of Defense Counsel’s Ladder Down Program (Class of 2014)