(09-18-2024, 07:38 AM)Sneakers Wrote:

(09-17-2024, 10:54 PM)mikesez Wrote: But what if there was something a President could do to incentivize or even require these states to unlock their zoning?

Zoning is far too localized an issue to ever have Presidential oversight, and any Federal involvement would become just another bureaucratic boondoggle.  Municipalities enact their own zoning regulations and it's a continuously evolving process, with overlying restraints that vary with individual States.  There are numerous factors to consider when before making zoning changes that allow significant increases in development, especially residential.  A municipality's ability to support the accompanying demand for water, sewer, schools, etc. is a huge concern and those services take years to upgrade.

Zoning doesn't make development happen, it simply allows or prevents it.  When growth is permitted, infrastructure is still the critical component.  The most effective incentive government can offer is to provide and/or assist in developing the prerequisite supporting services.

There are examples of federal law overlapping local law all over the place. Sometimes it's a "boondoggle" but other times it works, for instance the Americans with Disabilities Act is federally mandated but locally enforced. For the first maybe decade after it was passed, it was pre-empting and nullifying some state and local requirements. By now the state level laws have been revised to work within the framework ADA laid out. The ICC already has a standard zoning framework with common terminology and definitions and some municipalities are already revising their stuff to match it.

I agree that the main justification for zoning is to make sure infrastructure is adequate in a given area, however in practice this is simply not true.  Many places can afford to add infrastructure, and choose not to, because they want to "preserve their character." In some cases, like specific historical buildings, or truly rural areas, that's valid.  In most cases, it's not.

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