State Intervention in Local Land Use Decision-Making: The Case of Massachusetts

Abstract

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of a particular state intervention in local land use decision-making in order to better understand how local land use (and possibly other) decisions can be coordinated. I develop a screening model to formalize expectations about permitting outcomes under the rules of a Massachusetts law known as Chapter 40B and utilize a novel data set of information about local permitting decisions and developer appeals of those decisions during the period 1999-2005. The data allow me to examine local government decisions, the enforcement of developer rights and whether permitted development result in actual housing production. I estimate a bi-variate probity model with selection to jointly evaluate the determinants of local permit approvals and developer acceptance of permits. Overall, the findings suggest that local governing bodies comply with the state law, and that local discretion in the state-mandated permitting process does not necessarily imply poor implementation.

Keywords: Land use regulation, zoning, local governments