Achieving Equity Through Zoning? Consider Both Content and Access

For far too long, zoning codes have at best unintentionally supported inequity, and at worst have intentionally been used as tools to deny equity among citizens of diverse social, educational, economic, geographic or racial makeup. Our presenters will explore the issue of addressing zoning inequity through two lenses- content and access. Zoning codes have often required specialized knowledge or outside interpretation to understand and implement correctly and fully. In some cases, misalignment between constituent wishes represented in comprehensive plans and zoning regulations is openly tolerated in some communities, while strictly maintained in others. We will explore how these misalignments often result in public spaces, transportation designs and built environments that are quite different in quality and quantity from neighboring communities where public input, engagement, and advocacy result in far better places, services, and standards of living for their citizens. In other cases, essential access to the zoning regulations themselves is obscured by dated publishing methods or cumbersome delivery procedures that effectively dissuade public engagement and block many citizens without certain economic, educational, or social advantages from participating in their community’s planning or development processes. Zoning Administrators should seek to eliminate these inequities by employing proven practices and tools that improve representation, access and clarity for all users of the zoning code, from elected officials, review boards, and municipal staff to residents, small business owners, and investors.