HOW ZONING SHAPES COMMUNITIES

THE GOOD, BAD AND HOPEFUL ASPECTS 

OF THE CENTURY-OLD TOOL THAT DETERMINES

EVERYTHING ABOUT THE PLACES WE LIVE, WORK AND PLAY

Communities must come together and create a vision of what kind of housing it wants to accommodate its workforce, young families, seniors and people with disabilities. 

Then regulatory systems must be reformed to remove things in the zoning code that are barriers to that vision coming true.

For instance, Jason Jordan, the American Planning Association’s (APA) public affairs director, said a defined code that allows developers to build by right is not giving the store away to developers.

It is simply defining what the community wants from development, then giving developers predictability by being able to build without a string of variances, hearings and votes.