RSMo Chapter 89 — Municipal Zoning Enabling Act (Standard State Zoning Enabling Act derivative) (MO)

Tracked preemption from the Missouri overlay bundle.

Overview

Effective
1925-01-01
Sunset
Authority
state
Scope
state:MO

Trigger predicate

When this evaluates true for a parcel, the law's preempted fields take precedence over base zoning.

city.city_class {charter, third_class, fourth_class, town, village, constitutional_charter_county, consolidated_st_louis_city}

Preempted fields

4 fields on the base district schema are rewritten when the trigger fires.

FieldOpValueNote
zoning_ordinance.procedural_floorrequirersmo_89_compliantZoning ordinance must follow §89.040 'in accordance with a comprehensive plan' standard and §89.050 procedural floor (15-day published notice, public hearing, two-thirds supermajority where a protest petition is filed).
zoning_ordinance.rezoning_protest_petition_supermajorityrequiretwo_thirds_of_legislative_body§89.060: protest petition by owners of ≥30% of area within the proposed change OR ≥30% of area within 185 feet triggers two-thirds legislative-body supermajority for adoption.
zoning_decision_procedure.board_of_adjustment_requiredrequireTrue§§89.080–89.110: every zoned municipality must establish a board of adjustment with authority over variances, special exceptions, and administrative appeals; certiorari review to circuit court.
base_districts[category=res_sf].allowed_usesaddgroup_home_8_or_fewer_disabled_persons§89.145: municipalities may not prohibit group homes of ≤8 unrelated persons with disabilities in any single-family residential district; parallels and codifies federal Fair Housing Act anti-discrimination floor.

Citation

Authority source
Mo. Rev. Stat. ch. 89 (Zoning and Planning) — operative grant §89.020; comprehensive-plan standard §89.040; procedural floor §89.050; rezoning protest petition §89.060; board of adjustment §§89.080–89.110; group-home preemption §89.145
§ §§89.010 through 89.491
https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneChapter.aspx?chapter=89

Research notes

Standard State Zoning Enabling Act lineage (modeled on Hoover Commission 1924 SSZEA). The task brief cited §89.010 et seq. — §89.010 is the applicability/conflict provision and §89.020 is the operative grant of power. Chapter 89 applies to all municipalities; constitutional-charter cities (Mo. Const. Art. VI §19(a)) layer additional home-rule authority on top but cannot override Chapter 89's procedural floor or §89.145's group-home anti-exclusion. Counties zone unincorporated areas under the parallel Chapter 64 regime (split by county class). Chapter 89 contains no statewide density, FAR, height, or use-by-right preemption — Missouri remains a strong home-rule state and has not enacted a counterpart to CA SB 9/10, FL Live Local, or TX SB 840 as of 2026-05-18.