This article studies how public participation laws governing meetings of planning boards and similar bodies allocate power by analyzing public participation laws in two different jurisdictions — Massachusetts and England. It argues that participation mandates disempower elected local governments while failing to live up to democratic ideals, and allow small, privileged groups to thwart state and regional interests, contributing to housing crises. However, the article concludes that, with some modifications to provide for the adequate representation of state interests, the English system could offer a potential model for democratic public participation in land use planning.