The aim of the study is to analyze judicial practice in cases related to public hearings and public discussions in four regions of the Volga Federal District (the Mari El Republic, the Udmurt Republic, the Chuvash Republic, and Kirov Oblast) for the period from 2021 to 2026. The study revealed stable law enforcement approaches based on the following positions that form a uniform interpretative content of the norms of substantive and procedural law: 1) the final decisions taken based on the results of public hearings are advisory in nature; 2) public hearings are a form of public participation in the implementation of local self-government, but not a form of exercise of power by the population; 3) the mechanism of public hearings is aimed at informing the population and taking into account public opinion, but not at making binding government decisions. The emphasis of judicial review is on verifying compliance with the hearing procedure (notification of the venue and date, familiarization with proposed projects, recording of participants' proposals, and publication of the results). It is established that significant procedural violations may lead to the annulment of a legal act, while minor ones do not constitute grounds for invalidating the act. Attention is paid to the specifics of legal regulation in the distribution of powers in urban development between state authorities of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation and local governments, in the context of the performance of functions related to organizing public hearings.