Regulating Land Use at Sale: Public Improvement from Private Investment

Coordinated private investments create many neighborhood public improvements. This paper proposes regulating land use at sale as a way to coordinate private investments that create public improvements. The proposal is illustrated by a requirement that landowners plant street trees before they sell their properties. Census data and the Los Angeles County Assessor's records show that about half of all properties are sold within ten years, so regulation at sale should affect about half of a city per decade. Regulation at sale offers a pragmatic, low-cost method to improve older neighborhoods and stimulate local economic development.