Land Use Reform Through Performance Zoning

In short, it is time to discard the tired baggage of conventional zoning and start afresh with a new approach to land-use policy. What is needed are land-use policies that rexognize the importance of the market as a flexible institution for meeting the changing needs of a community. At present it is unrealistic to expect communities to revert back to a completely laissez faire land-use system. Yet there are feasible alternatives that might move us in the direction of a more market-oriented and flexible approach to land-use decisions.
Any alternative approach to zoning should strive to: 1) achieve a high degree of flexibility; 2) increase certainty in land-use policy; 3) increase use of market signals to determine land-use; 4) reduce policymaker discretion and arbitrary ladn-use decisions by policymakers; 5) reduce delays in the application approval process; and finally 6) strengthen protection of property against uncompensated “takings.”

William D. Eggers

Reason Foundation

May 1990

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