1996 State Summaries

Download Summaries of Planning Statutes of All 50 States

As part of its Growing Smart planning statute reform project, the American Planning Association has prepared summaries of planning statutes of all 50 states. These statutory summaries are from five to 15 pages in length, depending on the complexity of the statutes, and are current as of May 1996. They were researched by law students from IIT Chicago-Kent School of Law in Chicago, Illinois, and from the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri, under APA's supervision. The summaries are intended to assist states, regional planning agencies, local governments, private groups, and other persons interested in reform of state planning statutes and to provide citizens with information on the planning laws of their respective states.

These summaries are designed to give a brief overview of the planning and land-use control authority in each state. They are not intended as substitutes for the state statutes, nor do they contain complete provisions of the sections cited herein. The American Planning Association does not intend for these summaries to be used without further research by the users. Before applying any statutes, the user should therefore consult the original statutes as well as an attorney qualified in the respective state.

The summaries cover the following topics:

1. Overview;
2. State planning, including the structure and authority of state agencies with the power to prepare plans;
3. State development control;
4. Regional and interstate planning authority;
5. Special purpose regional agencies;
6. Regional development control;
7. Local planning, including structure and authority of local planning commissions, such as authority to prepare comprehensive plans;
8. Local development control, including zoning and subdivision;
9. Specialized adjudicatory procedures (such as boards of adjustment or zoning appeals), but excluding judicial review;
10. State environmental policy acts (where they exist);
11. Financing of required planning and infrastructure, including authority to enact impact fees; and
12. Specialized taxation and tax relief devices, such as tax increment financing;

If you have any questions or comments about these summaries, you can contact the Growing Smart project for more information.

Disclaimer: The preparation of the summaries of state planning statutes was supported by funding under a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The substance and findings of this work are dedicated to the public. The author and publisher are solely responsible for the accuracy of the statements and interpretations contained in the summaries. Such interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views of the federal government.