Introduction to the Zoning Database

The purpose of this website is to provide information to stakeholders in an effort to increase the available data and transparency around the current status of renewable energy zoning ordinances and processes. The data is available free to the public for use by communities undergoing the rezoning process, developers seeking communities with which to work, academics engaging in community-based research and any other stakeholders. The information collected here shows which communities include clean energy in their zoning ordinance and which do not. For those communities that regulate principal use solar energy systems, the information on this database includes 17 characteristics commonly found in solar energy zoning regulations. The stringency of individual ordinances is not analyzed in this database.

If you find any errors in the data, have new zoning ordinances, or have any questions about the data, please contact Madeleine Krol at the Center for EmPowering Communities, a center at the Graham Sustainability Institute at the University of Michigan at  krol@umich.edu.