A Landmark Year for Zoning and Land Use Reform

2025 brought major wins for zoning and land use reform across the country as several states passed bold legislation to remove outdated barriers and make it easier to build homes. Around the country lawmakers are rethinking zoning, parking, impact fees, and permitting in ways that will help cities grow smarter, faster, and more affordably. Here's a look at the highlights:

Florida: Faster Approvals for New Neighborhoods

• SB 784 speeds up Florida’s platting process by moving decisions from city councils to designated administrative staff. Cities must respond to plat or replat applications within seven days and issue timely decisions without requiring a public vote. If denied, the city must clearly explain the reasons based on objective standards.

• SB 1080 streamlines the development order (DO) process and tightens rules on impact fee increases. It standardizes DO timelines, eliminates the second hearing for comprehensive plan adoption, and limits how often a local government can deem an application incomplete. It sets 120-day approval deadlines for non-quasi-judicial and 180-day for quasi-judicial reviews with fee refunds if timelines aren’t met. Starting January 1, 2026, impact fee increases must be phased in, supported by updated data, and approved unanimously. School districts also cannot impose alternative fees without documented need.

Montana: Zoning and Fee Reform for More Housing Options

• HB 492 makes it easier to build a range of housing types by limiting local parking mandates. Duplexes must be allowed wherever single-family homes are, and multifamily or mixed-use projects in commercial zones can’t be required to provide more than one parking space per unit unless safety concerns are documented. Smaller units, assisted living, and manufactured housing are also protected from excessive parking rules.

• SB 133 overhauls how impact fees are calculated and applied. It caps annual fee increases at the inflation rate and requires a transparent five-year capital plan backed by public documentation. Impact fees can only cover costs tied to new development—not maintenance or existing system upgrades—and developers must be treated fairly relative to existing users.

Washington: Breaking Down Barriers to Housing

Washington State passed a trio of laws this year that prioritize housing choice, affordability, and administrative efficiency:

• The Housing Accountability Act strengthens oversight of local housing plans by allowing the Department of Commerce to enforce compliance with the Growth Management Act (GMA). Cities that fail to plan adequately for all income levels may lose access to state funding and cannot arbitrarily block affordable housing projects.

• HB 1096 requires cities to implement a streamlined, staff-level review process for lot splits. The process skips public hearings and must approve applications meeting basic requirements like zoning compliance, utility access, and displacement mitigation. Cities are protected from liability and exempt from state Environmental Policy Act challenges.

• HB 1183 eliminates costly design and parking mandates for affordable and energy-efficient housing. Cities can no longer require design standards to break up visual mass and bulk of building facades, upper-level setbacks, or off-street parking unless justified by safety studies. Affordable housing units also cannot be required to be larger than market-rate units. 

Bottom Line: These reforms represent a growing shift around the country toward simplifying housing rules, cutting red tape, and promoting a fairer and faster development process.