# Zoning & Planning Commission Tracker (`tristana/zoning-planning-tracker`) Actor

Track planning commission meetings, zoning changes, variances, and land use matters across US cities via Legistar. Get agendas, votes, and legislative histories for development intelligence.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/tristana/zoning-planning-tracker.md
- **Developed by:** [Tristan A](https://apify.com/tristana) (community)
- **Categories:** Real estate
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 85.7% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $4.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).


# README

## 🏗️ Zoning & Planning Commission Tracker

Monitor city planning commissions, zoning boards, and land use committees across **hundreds of US cities** using the Legistar platform. Extract upcoming meetings, agenda items, zoning matters (rezoning, variances, subdivisions), and vote histories — all from public government APIs.

### What This Actor Does

| Need | What You Get |
|---|---|
| **Upcoming zoning hearings** | Meeting dates, times, locations, agenda PDFs, and video links |
| **Agenda items** | What's being discussed — rezoning, conditional use, variances, site plans, subdivisions |
| **Legislative matters** | Full matter text with status, dates, requesting department, and matter history |
| **Vote & action tracking** | Committee referrals, recommendations, approvals/denials with dates |
| **Multi-city coverage** | One actor, hundreds of cities — add or remove city slugs as needed |

### Why This Matters

For developers, CRE brokers, land use attorneys, and site selection consultants, zoning changes are the **earliest possible signal** of development opportunity. A rezoning approved today means a project breaks ground in 6-18 months. This actor lets you track that signal across dozens of cities simultaneously.

### How It Works

This actor queries the **Legistar Web API** — an open, no-authentication REST API used by hundreds of US cities (Baltimore, Denver, Oakland, Seattle, Phoenix, Nashville, Charlotte, San Jose, and many more). It:

1. Discovers which city bodies handle zoning/planning/land use
2. Pulls upcoming and recent meetings for those bodies
3. Extracts agenda items from each meeting
4. Searches for zoning-related legislative matters filed in your date window
5. Retrieves matter histories (votes, referrals, committee actions)

### Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `cities` | string | `baltimore,denver,oakland,seattle` | Comma-separated Legistar city slugs |
| `daysBack` | integer | `90` | Days in the past to search |
| `daysForward` | integer | `60` | Days in the future to search |
| `maxMattersPerCity` | integer | `500` | Max zoning matters per city |
| `maxConcurrency` | integer | `3` | Cities processed simultaneously |

#### Finding City Slugs

City slugs are the identifiers used in Legistar URLs. To find a city's slug, visit their legislative portal — the slug is the subdomain or path segment. Examples:

- Baltimore: `baltimore` (baltimore.legistar.com)
- Denver: `denver` (denver.legistar.com)
- Oakland: `oakland` (oakland.legistar.com)
- Seattle: `seattle` (seattle.legistar.com)
- Phoenix: `phoenix` (phoenix.legistar.com)

You can test a city by visiting: `https://webapi.legistar.com/v1/{slug}/Bodies`

### Output Schema

Records are typed by `record_type`:

#### `meeting` — Planning/zoning body meetings
- `event_id`, `body`, `date`, `time`, `location`
- `agenda_status`, `minutes_status`
- `agenda_url` (PDF), `minutes_url` (PDF), `url` (web page)
- `video_status`, `comment`

#### `agenda_item` — Individual agenda items
- `event_item_id`, `event_id`, `matter_id`, `matter_file`
- `title` (full description), `agenda_sequence`
- `action`, `action_date`, `passed_flag`
- `agenda_note`, `minutes_note`, `video_url`

#### `matter` — Zoning-related legislative matters
- `matter_id`, `matter_file`, `title`, `type`, `status`, `body`
- `intro_date`, `passed_date`, `enactment_date`, `enactment_number`
- `requester`, `agenda_date`, `url`

#### `matter_history` — Actions taken on matters
- `matter_id`, `history_id`, `action`, `action_body`, `action_date`
- `passed_flag`, `agenda_note`, `minutes_note`

### Example Input

```json
{
  "cities": "baltimore,denver,oakland,seattle,phoenix",
  "daysBack": 90,
  "daysForward": 60,
  "maxMattersPerCity": 200,
  "maxConcurrency": 3
}
````

### Use Cases

- **CRE Developers**: Track rezoning proposals before they're public news
- **Land Use Attorneys**: Monitor variance and conditional use applications
- **Site Selection Consultants**: Compare development pipeline activity across cities
- **Real Estate Investors**: Identify neighborhoods with active zoning changes
- **Journalists & Researchers**: Track land use policy trends across municipalities
- **Government Affairs**: Monitor planning commission agendas for relevant items

### Pricing

Pay per result. See the pricing tab for current rates.

### Notes

- All data comes from **public government APIs** — no login or authentication required
- Legistar is used by 400+ US cities; not all have the Web API enabled
- Some cities use different platforms (Granicus, Municode, custom). Support for additional platforms planned in future versions
- The actor filters for zoning/planning/land-use-related bodies and matters automatically
- Matter history is fetched for zoning-related matters only (up to 10 history entries per matter)

### Support

For issues, feature requests, or help finding city slugs, open an issue on the Actor's page or contact the developer.

# Actor input Schema

## `cities` (type: `string`):

Comma-separated list of city identifiers used in the Legistar API. Each city must have a working Legistar Web API at webapi.legistar.com/v1/{city}/. Examples: baltimore, denver, oakland, seattle, phoenix, boston, pittsburgh, sanjose, mesa, chandler, raleigh, charlotte, nashville, milwaukee, sanantonio.

## `daysBack` (type: `integer`):

Number of days in the past to search for meetings and matters.

## `daysForward` (type: `integer`):

Number of days in the future to search for upcoming meetings.

## `maxMattersPerCity` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of zoning-related matters to extract per city.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

How many cities to process simultaneously. Increase for speed, decrease to avoid rate limiting.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "cities": "baltimore,denver,oakland,seattle",
  "daysBack": 90,
  "daysForward": 60,
  "maxMattersPerCity": 500,
  "maxConcurrency": 3
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "cities": "baltimore,denver,oakland,seattle"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("tristana/zoning-planning-tracker").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "cities": "baltimore,denver,oakland,seattle" }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("tristana/zoning-planning-tracker").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "cities": "baltimore,denver,oakland,seattle"
}' |
apify call tristana/zoning-planning-tracker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=tristana/zoning-planning-tracker",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "Zoning & Planning Commission Tracker",
        "description": "Track planning commission meetings, zoning changes, variances, and land use matters across US cities via Legistar. Get agendas, votes, and legislative histories for development intelligence.",
        "version": "1.0",
        "x-build-id": "yl1q8MJgvcCmq1HDo"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/tristana~zoning-planning-tracker/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-tristana-zoning-planning-tracker",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/tristana~zoning-planning-tracker/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-tristana-zoning-planning-tracker",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/tristana~zoning-planning-tracker/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-tristana-zoning-planning-tracker",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "required": [
                    "cities"
                ],
                "properties": {
                    "cities": {
                        "title": "Cities (Legistar client slugs)",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Comma-separated list of city identifiers used in the Legistar API. Each city must have a working Legistar Web API at webapi.legistar.com/v1/{city}/. Examples: baltimore, denver, oakland, seattle, phoenix, boston, pittsburgh, sanjose, mesa, chandler, raleigh, charlotte, nashville, milwaukee, sanantonio."
                    },
                    "daysBack": {
                        "title": "Days to look back",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 365,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Number of days in the past to search for meetings and matters.",
                        "default": 90
                    },
                    "daysForward": {
                        "title": "Days to look ahead",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 365,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Number of days in the future to search for upcoming meetings.",
                        "default": 60
                    },
                    "maxMattersPerCity": {
                        "title": "Max matters per city",
                        "minimum": 10,
                        "maximum": 5000,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Maximum number of zoning-related matters to extract per city.",
                        "default": 500
                    },
                    "maxConcurrency": {
                        "title": "Max concurrent cities",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 10,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "How many cities to process simultaneously. Increase for speed, decrease to avoid rate limiting.",
                        "default": 3
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```