diff --git a/playbooks/base.yml b/playbooks/base.yml
index a36c877..a016e39 100644
--- a/playbooks/base.yml
+++ b/playbooks/base.yml
@@ -20,3 +20,4 @@
         InstanceType: "t2.micro"
         KeyName: "{{ keys }}"
         DeployRepo: "{{ deployrepo }}"
+        AvailabilityZone: "{{ availability_zone }}"
diff --git a/templates/base.json b/templates/base.json
index 45c5136..1359792 100644
--- a/templates/base.json
+++ b/templates/base.json
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@
         "DeployRepo": {
             "Type": "String",
             "Description": "URL for MIG deploy repo"
+        },
+        "AvailabilityZone": {
+            "Type": "String",
+            "Description": "Availability zone to use for subnets"
         }
     },
     "Resources": {
@@ -59,6 +63,7 @@
             "Properties": {
                 "VpcId": { "Ref": "VPC" },
                 "CidrBlock": "10.20.0.0/24",
+                "AvailabilityZone": { "Ref": "AvailabilityZone" },
                 "Tags": [
                     { "Key": "Name", "Value": "mig public subnet" }
                 ]
@@ -94,6 +99,7 @@
             "Properties": {
                 "VpcId": { "Ref": "VPC" },
                 "CidrBlock": "10.20.1.0/24",
+                "AvailabilityZone": { "Ref": "AvailabilityZone" },
                 "MapPublicIpOnLaunch": "false",
                 "Tags": [
                     { "Key": "Name", "Value": "mig private subnet" }
@@ -192,6 +198,11 @@
             "Value": { "Ref": "PublicSubnet" },
             "Export": { "Name": {"Fn::Sub": "${AWS::StackName}-PublicSubnet" }}
         },
+        "AvailabilityZone": {
+            "Description": "Availability zone",
+            "Value": { "Ref": "AvailabilityZone" },
+            "Export": { "Name": {"Fn::Sub": "${AWS::StackName}-AvailabilityZone" }}
+        },
         "BastionInstanceId": {
             "Description": "Bastion host instance ID",
             "Value": { "Ref": "BastionInstance" },
diff --git a/vars/default.yml b/vars/default.yml
index 5e47d25..4bc54c9 100644
--- a/vars/default.yml
+++ b/vars/default.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 ---
 region: us-west-2
+availability_zone: us-west-2a
 keys: "alm-keys"
 ami_id: ami-2709bd47
 state: present