In 1908, Los Angeles became the first city to adopt a local zoning ordinance. It wasn’t until 1925 that the Utah legislature passed the Municipal Land Use, Development, and Management Act. This enabling act allowed a city to “divide the territory over which it has jurisdiction into zoning districts to regulate and restrict the use of the land.” The enabling legislation provides the city the authority to control the land use and control what type of structures can be built, limit the size of structures, and, importantly, define the approval process required for new development. And beyond the broad fundamental authority given to cities, municipal zoning laws can also regulate dozens of related activities such as off-street parking, landscaping, setbacks, etc. Thus, the power to regulate and oversee development is vested in local authorities. The standardized language in Salt Lake County’s municipal code sets out the purpose of zoning ordinances as “promoting the health, safety, morals, conveniences, order, prosperity and welfare of present and future inhabitants of Salt Lake County.”

Until recently, housing policy discussions rarely included much talk about zoning, except for the voices of ardent housing advocates. But Utah’s extraordinary demographic and economic growth since 2010 has brought zoning to the forefront of housing policy discussions. Growth has led to a housing shortage, which has contributed to the rapid increases in housing prices and rents. According to the National Association of Realtors, the year-over median sales price of a home in the Salt Lake metropolitan area increased by 12.3% in the first quarter of 2020. The Salt Lake metropolitan area ranked 16th of 182 metropolitan areas surveyed for the year-over price increases. price increases were lower in 90% of the metropolitan areas surveyed. And rents across Wasatch Front counties have been increasing by 5% to 7% annually despite the addition of a record number of new apartment units. Consequently, attention by housing advocates, civic groups, and the business community has turned to factors restricting the housing supply. One such factor is zoning, which allows municipalities to achieve valuable planning, aesthetic, and social goals, but can also contribute to the housing affordability problem.