The bills require counties, townships, cities and villages with zoning ordinances to include certain open space preservation provisions in those ordinances within six months after the bills took effect. The mandatory provisions would allow an owner of land zoned for residential redevelopment to build in a portion of the developable land area the same number of dwelling units that otherwise could have been built in the entire developable area, provided certain conditions were met.

For townships, dwellings could be concentrated in up to 50 percent of the land area, and for cities and villages in up to 80 percent of the land area. However, the required adoption of open space preservation provisions would not apply if a county, township, city or village had certain zoning ordinance provisions (to be described later) in effect on or before the enactment date of the bills.

Reps. Joe Rivet, Jim Plakas, Mike Murphy, Clarence Phillips and Glenn Anderson said they voted against the bills because they mandate local units amend zoning ordinances for a purpose that may not apply to them.