Local Planners and Limits on Local Residential Development

Abstract

A survey of local planning officials in Southern California found that decision-making processes affect local residential development policy, despite prevailing views that local political forces are largely irrelevant. While most studies of local development policy rely on easily available, published measures of socioeconomic and institutional variables, this study used a comparative analysis of local governments. The results indicate that survey-based measures of local officials' attitudes and perceptions can account for variations in restrictions on local residential development, even after adjusting for the effects of socioeconomic characteristics.