Zoning laws

Definition: Government-imposed regulations on the use and dimensions of land and structures

Since the adoption of early zoning laws that simply regulated uses and dimensions, governments have begun to innovate with zoning provisions that protect not only the character of communities but also their natural resources. Creative zoning applications include overlay conservation and wetlands districts, performance and incentive zoning, transfer of development rights, and complete bans on land uses that are detrimental to the environment.

Zoning is a police power that permits local governing bodies to infringe on private property rights in order to protect the general public health and safety and to preserve property values. Zoning regulations are found throughout the world; they generally commence with authorization, usually through a state, federal, or national enabling law, that permits local governments to regulate the uses and dimensions of land, buildings, and other structures for the purpose of achieving general and specific purposes. Relief from onerous zoning regulations is available through various uniform permitting processes, such as variances, that are set forth in the authorizing legislation and in local laws.

In 1926 the U.S. Supreme Court decided the seminal case of Euclid v. Ambler, which upheld the right of the village of Euclid, Ohio, to regulate an industrial use in order to achieve the legitimate governmental purpose of protecting a residential neighborhood. After the Euclid decision urban planning and zoning, often dubbed Euclidean zoning, spread throughout the United States, and local governments began to adopt zoning ordinances and bylaws. Over time zoning laws have become increasingly comprehensive and have placed greater limitations on private property as courts have continued to uphold more complex regulations. However, in the United States zoning regulations may be found invalid and unconstitutional if they go too far in infringing on private property rights without the government’s providing just compensation as required by the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Use and Dimensional Regulations

Cities, towns, counties, and other governmental bodies usually commence the zoning process by adopting zoning maps that depict various zoning districts within geographic boundaries. The districts are related to land use and are usually derived from municipal land-use plans. Types of zoning districts include residential, multifamily, commercial, industrial, and open space. Within each zoning district some uses are allowed by right without further governmental review. Other uses may be prohibited within a district, while some are permitted after discretionary review by a local land-use board or official established to conduct such review. Most discretionary reviews require due process, including notice and holding of public hearings, before a regulatory body or official makes a decision. In addition, due process provides the property owner with the right to appeal a zoning decision, usually to a local quasi-judicial body and eventually—after all other available remedies are exhausted—to a municipal or state court.

In tandem with the adoption of zoning maps, governments adopt regulations that apply to uses within each zoning district, including dimensional regulations. Dimensional regulations might include regulation of lot sizes through frontage, which is a measurement along the way or road providing access to a lot; depth regulations, concerning the lengths of side lot lines; and rear lot line lengths. In addition, minimal lot sizes based on square footage or acreage are usually stated, and lot coverage regulations may be imposed, requiring that a specific percentage of a lot remain open space, without buildings or other development. Density is controlled through setback regulations, which require buildings and structures to be set back specific distances from established lot lines. Other dimensional regulations include height regulations of buildings and other structures, such as communications towers and church steeples, and regulation of parking through the requirement of specific numbers of parking spaces for particular uses.

Complexity of Regulations

Over time, with increases in population and urban growth, as well as the emergence of new technologies, the regulation of land use has become more complex. Under performance zoning regulations, for example, developers whose developments meet specific community goals receive bonus points that allow them more flexibility in design, usually with respect to density controls. In a similar vein, some zoning laws allow a private property owner to protect important natural or historic features on a piece of property by exchanging or transferring development rights on that property for greater development rights on another piece of property. Incentive zoning regulations may involve impact fees, which require monetary payments to the government when specific land uses overburden existing infrastructure, such as roads or schools. Moreover, state and federal laws may infringe on local governments’ authority to regulate and prohibit land uses to which residents may have objections, such as transmission towers, wind farms, and hazardous waste facilities.

Zoning has become a popular regulatory vehicle among groups seeking to protect wetlands, floodplains, and other natural resources from any development. Although such regulations were often found to be unconstitutional takings in the United States when first adopted, courts are no longer reluctant to preserve the naturalenvironment for future generations by upholding such provisions and finding them constitutional.

Bibliography

Arnold, Craig Anthony. Fair and Healthy Land Use: Environmental Justice and Planning. Chicago: American Planning Association, 2007.

Babcock, Richard F., and Charles L. Siemon. The Zoning Game Revisited. 1985. Reprint. Cambridge, Mass.: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 1990.

Boone, Christopher G., and Ali Modarres. City and Environment. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2006.

Elliott, Donald L. A Better Way to Zone: Ten Principles to Create More Livable Cities. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2008.

Ferrey, Steven. “Local Environmental Controls.” In Environmental Law: Examples and Explanations. 5th ed. New York: Aspen, 2010.

Merriam, Dwight. The Complete Guide to Zoning: How to Navigate the Complex and Expensive Maze of Zoning, Planning, Environmental, and Land-Use Law. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004.

Nolon, John R. Open Ground: Effective Local Strategies for Protecting Natural Resources. Washington, D.C.: Environmental Law Institute, 2003.

Wolf, Michael A. The Zoning of America: Euclid v. Ambler. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2008.