Below is an excerpt from an article for planners on the American Planning Association website.  As you can see, planners want the state, not local governments, to control zoning and impose the ideology of the planning and development community on all citizens of the state.  It’s already happened in California and other states.  Disguised as a hurricane relief measure, Senate Bill 382 severely limits local control over zoning.  And it’s just a first step to North Carolina going full California – removing all local zoning control.

SB 382 passed the senate but all of us can still be heard before the state house votes next week.

https://www.planning.org/planning/2023/winter/what-is-zoning-reform-and-why-do-we-need-it/

What Is Zoning Reform and Why Do We Need It?

The case for change, why planners support it, and six zoning reform tactics that could help curb housing costs.

6. Embracing state preemption

NIMBY foes and allies in local government often push back against zoning reform, citing a variety of complaints about crowding, environmental issues, and neighborhood character. Increasingly, battles for housing regulations are being elevated to the state level. While there are examples like Texas pre-empting pro-housing regulations in cities like Austin, other states, most notably California, are pushing local governments to unlock housing creation and curtail restrictive regulations.

In recent years, California has established a suite of these measures: statewide rent control, requirements for new units, ADU laws, dismantling of single-family zoning, and bills to promote commercial-to-residential conversations and transit-oriented development. And the state has added teeth to this legislation by aggressively enforcing new and existing requirements.

Through zoning reform, planners can play an essential role in building affordable, equitable, sustainable communities, says Gray. In pursuit of equity and environmental goals in a changing city, thoughtful, evolving policies are essentials.

“I want to hit the reset button,” he says, “and I think a lot of planners do, too. Lurking below the surface in planning is this eagerness, this appetite for a fundamental rethink.”