110 Iowa L. Rev. 1755 (2025)

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Abstract

The housing shortage and affordability crisis have elicited calls for a reappraisal of the allocation of zoning power between state and local governments. Although scholars have given significant attention to potential legal reforms, there has been little discussion of the local administration of zoning codes. Over the course of the twentieth century, local governments embraced more flexible approaches to regulating land use, allowing regulations to adjust to changing conditions and demands and local governments to extract benefits from new development. This flexibility relies in part on the exercise of discretion by administrative agencies, most notably zoning boards of appeal. Flexibility and the exercise of discretion are not without costs, particularly in terms of predictability. They also frequently lead zoning boards to ignore relevant legal standards and exceed the scope of their delegated authority.

Recent scholarship has shed new light on the unique attributes of local administrative law. At the same time, scholars of administrative law more generally have explored the merits and contours of increased transparency. This Article draws on this scholarship and explores how deeper consideration of the administrative structure and functioning of local land use law might inform legal reforms.

Presenting an empirical analysis of the twenty-five most populous cities in the United States, it assesses the transparency of zoning administration in these jurisdictions. I argue that increasing the transparency of and public access to information related to variance applications and decisions will improve the predictability and consistency of these decisions. It will also make the need for reform more salient and help target those reforms.