Zoning in the United States
Encyclopedia
Zoning in the United States comprise land use
state laws falling under the police power
rights that State government
s and local government
s (such as cities and counties) have the authority to exercise over privately owned real property
.
During the 1860s, a specific state statute prohibited all commercial activities along Eastern Parkway (Brooklyn)
, setting a trend for future decades. In 1916, New York City
adopted the first zoning regulations
to apply city-wide as a reaction to construction of The Equitable Building
(which still stands at 120 Broadway). The building towered over the neighboring residences, completely covering all available land area within the property boundary, blocking windows of neighboring buildings and diminishing the availability of sunshine for the people in the affected area. These laws
, written by a commission
headed by Edward Bassett
and signed by Mayor
John Purroy Mitchel
, became the blueprint
for zoning in the rest of the country, partly because Bassett headed the group of planning lawyers which wrote The Standard State Zoning Enabling Act
that was issued by the US Department of Commerce in 1924 and accepted almost without change by most states. The effect of these zoning regulations on the shape of skyscrapers was famously illustrated by architect and illustrator Hugh Ferriss
.
The constitutionality of zoning ordinances was upheld in 1926. The zoning ordinance of Euclid, Ohio was challenged in court by a local land owner on the basis that restricting use of property violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
. Though initially ruled unconstitutional by lower courts, the zoning ordinance was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Village of Euclid, Ohio v. Ambler Realty Co.
.
By the late 1920s most of the nation had developed a set of zoning regulations that met the needs of the locality.
New York City went on to develop more complex zoning regulations encompassing floor-area ratio
regulations, air rights
and others according to the density-specific need
s of the neighborhoods.
Among large populated cities in the United States, Houston is unique in having no zoning ordinances
. Houston voters have rejected efforts to implement zoning in 1948, 1962 and 1993. It is commonly believed that "Houston is Houston" because of the lack of zoning laws. However, large cities throughout the Sun Belt
are newer than many other metropolitan area
s, such as New York City
, Boston
, Chicago
, Philadelphia, Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, and San Francisco, so consequently the cities of the Sun Belt have experienced the bulk of their population growth during the Age of the Automotive
. These largest of these cities, such as Los Angeles
, Atlanta, Miami, Tampa
, Dallas, Phoenix
, and Kansas City
, have all experienced urban sprawl
such as experienced by Houston despite having zoning systems. It should be noted, however, that urban sprawl in Los Angeles County existed even before the introduction of its zoning laws during the 1950s
. Also, many private properties in Houston have legal covenants or "deed restrictions" that limit the future uses of land, and that have effects similar to those of zoning systems. Houston's municipal code also contributed to this automobile
-dependent urban sprawl by requiring the existence of large minimum residential lot sizes and large commercial parking lots. Wide road widths and long city blocks further discourage walking in and around Houston.
es. Zoning is commonly exercised by local governments such as counties or municipalities, though the state determines the nature of the zoning scheme with a zoning enabling law. Federal lands
are not subject to state planning controls.
Zoning may include regulation of the kinds of activities which will be acceptable on particular lots (such as open space, residential, agricultural, commercial
or industrial
), the densities at which those activities can be performed (from low-density housing
such as single family homes to high-density such as high-rise apartment buildings
), the height of buildings, the amount of space structures may occupy, the location of a building on the lot (setbacks), the proportions of the types of space on a lot (for example, how much landscape
d space and how much paved space), and how much parking
must be provided. Some commercial zones specify what types of products may be sold by particular stores. The details of how individual planning systems incorporate zoning into their regulatory regimes varies though the intention is always similar.
Most zoning systems have a procedure for granting variance
s (exceptions to the zoning rules), usually because of some perceived hardship due to the particular nature of the property
in question. If the variance is not warranted, then it may cause an allegation of spot zoning
to arise. Most state's zoning enabling laws prohibit local zoning authorities from engaging in any spot zoning
because it would undermine the purpose of a zoning scheme.
Zoning codes vary by jurisdiction. As one example, residential zones might be coded as R1 for single-family home
s, R2 for two-family homes, and R3 for multiple-family homes. As another example, R60 might represent a minimum lot of 60,000 sq ft (1.4 acre or about 0.5 hectares) per single family home, while R30 would require lots of only half that size.
(often shortened to Euclid v. Ambler), 272 U.S. 365
(1926). The village had zoned an area of land held by Ambler Realty as a residential neighborhood. Ambler argued that it would lose money because if the land could be leased to industrial users it would have netted a great deal more money than as a residential area. Euclid won, and a precedent
was set favorable to local enforcement of zoning laws.
In doing so, the Court accepted the arguments of zoning defenders that it met two essential needs. First, zoning extended and improved on nuisance law in that it provided advance notice that certain types of uses were incompatible with other uses in a particular district. The second argument was that zoning was a necessary municipal-planning instrument.
The Euclid case was a facial challenge
, meaning that the entire scheme of regulation was argued to be unconstitutional under any set of circumstances. The United States Supreme Court justified the ordinance saying that a community may enact reasonable laws to keep the pig out of the parlor, even if pigs may not be prohibited from the entire community.
Since the Euclid case, there have been no more facial challenges to the general scheme. By the late 1920s most of the nation had developed a set of zoning regulations that met the needs of the locality.
ruled that construction permit
(short: permit) conditions that fail to substantially advance the agency's authorized purposes require compensation. Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council
ruled that numerous environmental concerns were not sufficient to deny all development without compensation. Dolan v. City of Tigard
ruled that conditions of a permit must be roughly proportional to the impacts of the proposed new development. Palazzolo v. Rhode Island
ruled property rights are not diminished by unconstitutional laws that exist without challenge at the time the complaining property owner acquired title.
However, the landowner victories have been mostly limited to the U.S. Supreme Court despite that Court's purported overriding authority. Each decision in favor of the landowner is based on the facts of the particular case, so that regulatory takings rulings in favor of landowners are little more than a landowners' mirage. Even the trend of the U.S. Supreme Court may now have reversed with the 2002 ruling in Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency
. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
, who had previously ruled with a 5-4 majority in favor of the landowner, switched sides to favor the government that had delayed development for more than 20 years because of the government's own indecision about alleged concerns to the water quality of Lake Tahoe
.
, Georgia
, an ordinance
banning billboard
s was overturned in court on such grounds. It has been deemed that a municipality's sign ordinance must be content neutral with regard to the regulation of signage
. The City of Roswell
, Georgia
has now instituted a sign ordinance that regulates signage based strictly on dimensional and aesthetic codes, rather than an interpretation of a sign's content (i.e. use of colors, lettering, etc.).
of 1993 (RFRA). The Supreme Court eventually overturned RFRA in just such a case, City of Boerne v. Flores
521 U.S. 507
(1997). However, Congress enacted the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act
(RLUIPA) in 2000 in an effort to correct the constitutionally objectionable problems of the RFRA. In the 2005 case of Cutter v. Wilkinson
, the United States Supreme Court held RLUIPA to be constitutional as applied to institutionalized persons, but has not yet decided RLUIPA's constitutionality as it relates to religious land uses.
, Ohio
, Euclidean zoning codes are by far the most prevalent in the United States, used extensively in small towns and large cities alike.
The zoning ordinance of Euclid, Ohio was challenged in court by a local land owner on the basis that restricting use of property violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
. Though initially ruled unconstitutional by lower courts, the zoning ordinance was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Village of Euclid, Ohio v. Ambler Realty Co.
(1926).
Euclidean zoning is preferred by many municipalities due to its relative effectiveness, ease of implementation (one set of explicit, prescriptive rules), long-established legal precedent, and familiarity to planners and design professionals. Euclidean zoning has received heavy criticism, however, for its lack of flexibility and institutionalization of now-outdated planning theory. Separation of uses contributes to wasteful sprawl development, loss of open space, heavy infrastructure costs, and reliance on the automobile.
are usually necessary.
Floating zones involve an ordinance that describes a zone's characteristics and requirements for its establishment, but its location remains undesignated until the board finds that a situation exists which allows the implementation of that type of zone in a particular area. When the criteria of a floating zone is met the floating zone ceases "to float" and is adopted by a zoning amendment. Some states allow this type of zoning like New York and Maryland while states such as Pennsylvania
do not as an instance of spot zoning
. To be upheld the floating zone the master plan must permit floating zones or at least they should not conflict with the master plan. Further, the criteria and standards provided for them should be adequate and the action taken is not arbitrary or unreasonable. Generally, the floating zone is more easily adoptable and immune from legal challenges if it does not differ substantially from zoned area in which it is implemented.
Cluster zoning permits residential uses to be clustered more closely together than normally allowed thereby leaving substantial land area to be devoted to open space.
Planned unit development is cluster zoning but allows for mixed uses
including some commercial and light industrial uses in order to blend together a traditional downtown environment but with at a suburban scale. However, some have argued that such a planned unit development may be a sham
for the purpose of bringing in commercial and industrial uses forbidden by the state's zoning law; some courts have held such a "sham" to be an "arbitrary and capricious abuse" of the police power.
The appeal of Performance Zoning lies in its high level of flexibility, rationality, transparency and accountability. Performance Zoning avoids the arbitrary nature of the Euclidian approach, and better accommodates market principles and private property rights with environmental protection. However, performance zoning can be extremely difficult to implement and can require a high level of discretionary activity on the part of the supervising authority. For this reason performance zoning has not been widely adopted in the USA, and is usually limited to specific categories within a broader prescriptive code when found. New Zealand's planning system, however, is grounded in effects-based Performance Zoning under the Resource Management Act 1991.
) bonuses for affordable housing
provided on-site and height limit bonuses for the inclusion of public amenities on-site. Incentive zoning has become more common throughout the United States during the last 20 years.
Incentive zoning allows for a high degree of flexibility, but can be complex to administer. The more a proposed development takes advantage of incentive criteria, the more closely it has to be reviewed on a discretionary basis. The initial creation of the incentive structure in order to best serve planning priorities can also be challenging and often requires extensive ongoing revision to maintain balance between incentive magnitude and value given to developers.
Design-based codes
offer considerably more flexibility in building uses than do Euclidean codes, but, as they are comparatively new, may be more challenging to create. Design-based codes have not yet been widely adopted in the United States. When form-based codes do not contain appropriate illustrations and diagrams, they have been criticized as being difficult to interpret.
One example of a recently adopted code with design-based features is the Land Development Code adopted by Louisville
, Kentucky
in 2003. This zoning code creates "form districts" for Louisville Metro. Each form district intends to recognize that some areas of the city are more suburban in nature, while others are more urban. Building setbacks, heights, and design features vary according to the form district. As an example, in a "traditional neighborhood" form district, a maximum setback might be 15 feet (4.6 m) from the property line, while in a suburban "neighborhood" there may be no maximum setback.
Dallas, Texas, is currently developing an optional form-based zoning ordinance.http://www.forwarddallas.org/projects/devcode.php Since the concept of form based codes is relatively new, this type of zoning may be more challenging to enact.
One version of form-based or "form integrated" zoning utilizes a base district overlay method or "composite" zoning. This method is based on a euclidian framework and includes three district components - a use component, a site component and an architectural component. The use component is similar in nature to the use districts of euclidian zoning. However, with an emphasis on form standards, use components are typically more inclusive and broader in scope. The site components define a variety of site conditions from low intensity to high intensity such as size and scale of buildings and parking, accessory structures, drive-through commercial lanes, landscaping, outdoor storage and display, vehicle fueling and washing, overhead commercial service doors, etc. The architectural components address architectural elements and materials. This zoning method is more flexible and contextually adaptable than standard euclidian zoning while being easier to interpret than other form based codes. It has been utilized primarily for contemporary "conventional" standards and has not yet been fully developed for traditional standards.
For example, multi-family is not only permitted in "higher order" multi-family zoning districts, but also permitted in high order commercial and industrial zoning districts as well. Protection of land values is maintained by stratifying the zoning districts into levels according to their location in the urban society (neighborhood, community, municipality, and region). Euclidean II zoning also incorporates transportation and utilities as new zoning districts in its matrix dividing zoning into three categories: Public, Semi-Public and Private. In addition, all Euclidean II Zoning permitted activities and definitions are tied directly to the state's building code, Municode and the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS
) assuring statewide uniformity. Euclidean II zoning fosters the concepts of mixed use, new urbanism
and "highest and best use"; and, simplifies all zoning classifications into a single and uniform set of activities. It is relatively easy to transition from most existing zoning classification systems to the Euclidean II Zoning system.
or unconstitutional.
The standard applied to the amendment to determine whether it may survive judicial scrutiny is the same as the review of a zoning ordinance: whether the restriction is arbitrary or whether it bears a reasonable relationship to the exercise of the state's police power.
If the residents in the targeted neighborhood complain about the amendment, their argument in court does not allow them any vested right to keep the zoned district the same. However, they do not have to prove the difficult standard that the amendment amounts to a taking. If the gain to the public for the rezoning is small compared to the hardships that would affect the residents, then the amendment may be granted if it provides relief to the residents.
If the local zoning authority passes the zoning amendment, then spot zoning
allegations may arise should the rezoning be preferential in nature and cannot be reasonably justified.
. Criticism of zoning is widespread, however, and its effectiveness as a tool for promoting or discouraging social change is debatable. The voters of Houston, Texas have rejected implementation of zoning districts through referendums held in 1948, 1962 and 1993.
" or legally non-conforming as a nonconforming use
, meaning the prior development is exempt from compliance. Consequently, zoning can only affect new development in a growing community. In addition, if undeveloped land is zoned to allow development, that land becomes relatively expensive, causing developers to seek land that is not zoned for development, and then seek rezoning of that land themselves. Communities generally react by not zoning undeveloped land to allow development until a developer requests rezoning and presents a suitable plan. Development under this practice appears to be piecemeal and uncoordinated. Communities try to influence the timing of development by government expenditures for new streets, sewers and utilities usually desired for modern developments. However, the development of interstate freeways for purposes unrelated to planned community growth, creates an inexorable rush to develop the relatively cheap land near interchanges. Property tax
suppression measures such as California Proposition 13
have led many communities to disregard their comprehensive plans and rezone undeveloped land for retail establishments, desperate to capture sales tax
revenue.
In Colorado, local governments are free to not enforce their own zoning and other land regulation laws. This is called selective enforcement. Steamboat Springs CO is an example of a location with illegal buildings and lax enforcement.
) as a source of new social ills, including urban sprawl
, the separation of homes from employment, and the rise of "car culture." Some communities have begun to encourage development of denser, homogenized, mixed-use neighborhoods that promote walking and cycling to jobs and shopping. However, a single-family home and car are major parts of the "American Dream
" for nuclear families
, and zoning laws often reflect this: in some cities, houses that do not have an attached garage
are deemed "blighted" and are subject to redevelopment
. Movements that disapprove of zoning, such as New Urbanism
and Smart Growth
, generally try to reconcile these competing demands. New Urbanists in particular try through creative urban design solutions that hark back to 1920s and 1930s practices. Late in the 20th century, New Urbanists have also come under attack for encouraging sprawl and for the highly prescriptive nature of their model code proposals.
"). Early zoning codes were often explicitly racist.
Exclusionary practices remain common among suburbs wishing to keep out those deemed socioeconomically or ethnically undesirable: for example, representatives of the city of Barrington Hills
, Illinois
once told the Real Estate section of the Chicago Tribune
that the city's 5 acres (20,234.3 m²) minimum lot size helped to "keep out the riff-raff."
) early on, however such laws were ruled out in 1917 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that such laws interfered with the property rights of owners (Buchanan v. Warley). There were repeated attempts by various states, municipalities, and individuals since then to create zoning and housing laws based on race, however such laws were eventually overturned by the courts. The legality of all discrimination in housing, by public or private entities, was ended by the Fair Housing Act (Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968).
Despite such rulings, many claim that zoning laws are still used for the purpose of racial segregation.
For example, the entire town of Los Altos Hills
, California
(with the exception of the local community college and a religious convent) is zoned for residential use with a minimum lot size of one acre (4,000 m²) and a limit of only one primary dwelling per lot. All these restrictions were upheld as constitutional by federal and state courts in the early 1970s. The town traditionally attempted to comply with state affordable housing requirements by counting secondary dwellings (that is, apartments over garages and guest houses) as affordable housing, and since 1989 has also allowed residents to build so-called "granny units".
In 1969 Massachusetts
enacted the Massachusetts Comprehensive Permit Act: Chapter 40B, sometimes referred to as the anti-snob zoning statute. Under this law, developers may circumvent local zoning boards in municipalities with less than 10% affordable housing. Similar laws are in place in other parts of the United States (e.g., Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Illinois), though their effectiveness is disputed.
Land use
Land use is the human use of land. Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as fields, pastures, and settlements. It has also been defined as "the arrangements, activities and inputs people undertake in a certain land cover...
state laws falling under the police power
Police power
In United States constitutional law, police power is the capacity of the states to regulate behavior and enforce order within their territory for the betterment of the general welfare, morals, health, and safety of their inhabitants...
rights that State government
State government
A state government is the government of a subnational entity in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or be subject to the direct control of the federal government...
s and local government
Local government
Local government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...
s (such as cities and counties) have the authority to exercise over privately owned real property
Real property
In English Common Law, real property, real estate, realty, or immovable property is any subset of land that has been legally defined and the improvements to it made by human efforts: any buildings, machinery, wells, dams, ponds, mines, canals, roads, various property rights, and so forth...
.
Origins and history
Eastern Parkway (Brooklyn)
Eastern Parkway is a major boulevard that runs through a portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The road begins at Grand Army Plaza and extends east, running parallel to Atlantic Avenue, along the crest of the moraine that separates northern from southern Long Island, to Ralph Avenue...
, setting a trend for future decades. In 1916, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
adopted the first zoning regulations
1916 Zoning Resolution
The New York City 1916 Zoning Resolution was a measure adopted primarily to stop massive buildings such as the Equitable Building from preventing light and air from reaching the streets below...
to apply city-wide as a reaction to construction of The Equitable Building
Equitable Building (Manhattan)
The Equitable Building is a 38-story office building in New York City, located at 120 Broadway in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. A landmark engineering achievement as a skyscraper, it was designed by Ernest R. Graham and completed in 1915...
(which still stands at 120 Broadway). The building towered over the neighboring residences, completely covering all available land area within the property boundary, blocking windows of neighboring buildings and diminishing the availability of sunshine for the people in the affected area. These laws
1916 Zoning Resolution
The New York City 1916 Zoning Resolution was a measure adopted primarily to stop massive buildings such as the Equitable Building from preventing light and air from reaching the streets below...
, written by a commission
Government agency
A government or state agency is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an intelligence agency. There is a notable variety of agency types...
headed by Edward Bassett
Edward Bassett
Edward Murray Bassett was one of the founding fathers of modern day urban planning. Known as "The Father of American Zoning," Bassett wrote the first comprehensive zoning ordinance in the United States, adopted by New York City in 1916....
and signed by Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
John Purroy Mitchel
John Purroy Mitchel
John Purroy Mitchel was the mayor of New York from 1914 to 1917. At age 34 he was the second-youngest ever; he is sometimes referred to as "The Boy Mayor of New York." Mayor Mitchel is remembered for his short career as leader of Reform politics in New York, as well as for his early death as an...
, became the blueprint
Blueprint
A blueprint is a type of paper-based reproduction usually of a technical drawing, documenting an architecture or an engineering design. More generally, the term "blueprint" has come to be used to refer to any detailed plan....
for zoning in the rest of the country, partly because Bassett headed the group of planning lawyers which wrote The Standard State Zoning Enabling Act
The Standard State Zoning Enabling Act
The basic foundation for planning and zoning in the U.S. was laid by two standard state enabling acts published by the U.S. Department of Commerce in the 1920s...
that was issued by the US Department of Commerce in 1924 and accepted almost without change by most states. The effect of these zoning regulations on the shape of skyscrapers was famously illustrated by architect and illustrator Hugh Ferriss
Hugh Ferriss
Hugh Ferriss was an American delineator and architect. According to Daniel Okrent, Ferriss never designed a single noteworthy building, but after his death a colleague said he 'influenced my generation of architects' more than any other man...
.
The constitutionality of zoning ordinances was upheld in 1926. The zoning ordinance of Euclid, Ohio was challenged in court by a local land owner on the basis that restricting use of property violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...
. Though initially ruled unconstitutional by lower courts, the zoning ordinance was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Village of Euclid, Ohio v. Ambler Realty Co.
Village of Euclid, Ohio v. Ambler Realty Co.
Village of Euclid, Ohio v. Ambler Realty Co., , more commonly Euclid v. Ambler, was a United States Supreme Court case argued in 1926...
.
By the late 1920s most of the nation had developed a set of zoning regulations that met the needs of the locality.
New York City went on to develop more complex zoning regulations encompassing floor-area ratio
Floor Area Ratio
The floor area ratio or floor space index is the ratio of the total floor area of buildings on a certain location to the size of the land of that location, or the limit imposed on such a ratio....
regulations, air rights
Air rights
Air rights are a type of development right in real estate, referring to the empty space above a property. Generally speaking, owning or renting land or a building gives one the right to use and develop the air rights....
and others according to the density-specific need
Need
A need is something that is necessary for organisms to live a healthy life. Needs are distinguished from wants because a deficiency would cause a clear negative outcome, such as dysfunction or death. Needs can be objective and physical, such as food, or they can be subjective and psychological,...
s of the neighborhoods.
Among large populated cities in the United States, Houston is unique in having no zoning ordinances
Local ordinance
A local ordinance is a law usually found in a municipal code.-United States:In the United States, these laws are enforced locally in addition to state law and federal law.-Japan:...
. Houston voters have rejected efforts to implement zoning in 1948, 1962 and 1993. It is commonly believed that "Houston is Houston" because of the lack of zoning laws. However, large cities throughout the Sun Belt
Sun Belt
The Sun Belt or Spanish Belt is a region of the United States generally considered to stretch across the South and Southwest . Another rough boundary of the region is the area south of the 36th parallel, north latitude. It is the largest region which the U.S government does not recognize officially...
are newer than many other metropolitan area
Metropolitan area
The term metropolitan area refers to a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing. A metropolitan area usually encompasses multiple jurisdictions and municipalities: neighborhoods, townships,...
s, such as New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Philadelphia, Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, and San Francisco, so consequently the cities of the Sun Belt have experienced the bulk of their population growth during the Age of the Automotive
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
. These largest of these cities, such as Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Atlanta, Miami, Tampa
Tâmpa
Tâmpa may refer to several villages in Romania:* Tâmpa, a village in Băcia Commune, Hunedoara County* Tâmpa, a village in Miercurea Nirajului, Mureş County* Tâmpa, a mountain in Braşov city...
, Dallas, Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, and Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, have all experienced urban sprawl
Urban sprawl
Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density and auto-dependent development on rural land, high segregation of uses Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a...
such as experienced by Houston despite having zoning systems. It should be noted, however, that urban sprawl in Los Angeles County existed even before the introduction of its zoning laws during the 1950s
1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...
. Also, many private properties in Houston have legal covenants or "deed restrictions" that limit the future uses of land, and that have effects similar to those of zoning systems. Houston's municipal code also contributed to this automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
-dependent urban sprawl by requiring the existence of large minimum residential lot sizes and large commercial parking lots. Wide road widths and long city blocks further discourage walking in and around Houston.
Scope
Theoretically, the primary purpose of zoning is to segregate uses that are thought to be incompatible. However, in practice zoning is used as a permitting system to prevent new development from harming existing residents or businessBusiness
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
es. Zoning is commonly exercised by local governments such as counties or municipalities, though the state determines the nature of the zoning scheme with a zoning enabling law. Federal lands
Federal lands
Federal lands are lands in the United States for which ownership is claimed by the U.S. federal government.-Primary federal land holders:*Bureau of Land Management*United States Forest Service*United States Fish and Wildlife Service*National Park Service...
are not subject to state planning controls.
Zoning may include regulation of the kinds of activities which will be acceptable on particular lots (such as open space, residential, agricultural, commercial
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
or industrial
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
), the densities at which those activities can be performed (from low-density housing
House
A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...
such as single family homes to high-density such as high-rise apartment buildings
Tower block
A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, office tower, apartment block, or block of flats, is a tall building or structure used as a residential and/or office building...
), the height of buildings, the amount of space structures may occupy, the location of a building on the lot (setbacks), the proportions of the types of space on a lot (for example, how much landscape
Landscape
Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...
d space and how much paved space), and how much parking
Parking
Parking is the act of stopping a vehicle and leaving it unoccupied for more than a brief time. Parking on one or both sides of a road is commonly permitted, though often with restrictions...
must be provided. Some commercial zones specify what types of products may be sold by particular stores. The details of how individual planning systems incorporate zoning into their regulatory regimes varies though the intention is always similar.
Most zoning systems have a procedure for granting variance
Variance (land use)
A variance is the process by which an applicant can request deviation from the set of rules a municipality applies to land use and land development, typically a zoning ordinance, building code or municipal code. The manner in which variances are employed can differ greatly depending on the...
s (exceptions to the zoning rules), usually because of some perceived hardship due to the particular nature of the property
Property
Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
in question. If the variance is not warranted, then it may cause an allegation of spot zoning
Spot zoning
Spot zoning is the application of zoning to a specific parcel of land within a larger zoned area when the rezoning is usually at odds with a city's master plan and current zoning restrictions. The rezoning may be for the benefit of a particular owner, and at odds with pre-existing adjacent...
to arise. Most state's zoning enabling laws prohibit local zoning authorities from engaging in any spot zoning
Spot zoning
Spot zoning is the application of zoning to a specific parcel of land within a larger zoned area when the rezoning is usually at odds with a city's master plan and current zoning restrictions. The rezoning may be for the benefit of a particular owner, and at odds with pre-existing adjacent...
because it would undermine the purpose of a zoning scheme.
Zoning codes vary by jurisdiction. As one example, residential zones might be coded as R1 for single-family home
Single-family home
A single-family detached home, also called a single-detached dwelling or separate house is a free-standing residential building. It is defined in opposition to a multi-family dwelling.- Definitions :...
s, R2 for two-family homes, and R3 for multiple-family homes. As another example, R60 might represent a minimum lot of 60,000 sq ft (1.4 acre or about 0.5 hectares) per single family home, while R30 would require lots of only half that size.
Facial challenges
There have been notable legal challenges to zoning regulations. In 1926 the United States Supreme Court upheld zoning as a right of U.S. states (typically via their cities and counties) to impose on landowners. The case was Village of Euclid, Ohio v. Ambler Realty Co.Village of Euclid, Ohio v. Ambler Realty Co.
Village of Euclid, Ohio v. Ambler Realty Co., , more commonly Euclid v. Ambler, was a United States Supreme Court case argued in 1926...
(often shortened to Euclid v. Ambler), 272 U.S. 365
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1926). The village had zoned an area of land held by Ambler Realty as a residential neighborhood. Ambler argued that it would lose money because if the land could be leased to industrial users it would have netted a great deal more money than as a residential area. Euclid won, and a precedent
Precedent
In common law legal systems, a precedent or authority is a principle or rule established in a legal case that a court or other judicial body may apply when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts...
was set favorable to local enforcement of zoning laws.
In doing so, the Court accepted the arguments of zoning defenders that it met two essential needs. First, zoning extended and improved on nuisance law in that it provided advance notice that certain types of uses were incompatible with other uses in a particular district. The second argument was that zoning was a necessary municipal-planning instrument.
The Euclid case was a facial challenge
Facial challenge
In the context of American jurisprudence, a facial challenge is a challenge to a statute in court, in which the plaintiff alleges that the legislation is always, and under all circumstances, unconstitutional, and therefore void...
, meaning that the entire scheme of regulation was argued to be unconstitutional under any set of circumstances. The United States Supreme Court justified the ordinance saying that a community may enact reasonable laws to keep the pig out of the parlor, even if pigs may not be prohibited from the entire community.
Since the Euclid case, there have been no more facial challenges to the general scheme. By the late 1920s most of the nation had developed a set of zoning regulations that met the needs of the locality.
Takings
Beginning in 1987, several United States Supreme Court cases ruled against land use regulations as being a taking requiring just compensation pursuant to the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. First English Evangelical Lutheran Church v. Los Angeles County ruled that even a temporary taking may require compensation. Nollan v. California Coastal CommissionNollan v. California Coastal Commission
In Nollan v. California Coastal Commission, 483 U.S. 825 , the United States Supreme Court reviewed a regulation under which the California Coastal Commission required that an offer to dedicate a lateral public easement along the Nollans' beachfront lot be recorded on the chain of title to the...
ruled that construction permit
Construction permit
A construction permit or building permit is a permit required in most jurisdictions for new construction, or adding on to pre-existing structures, and in some cases for major renovations. Generally, the new construction must be inspected during construction and after completion to ensure compliance...
(short: permit) conditions that fail to substantially advance the agency's authorized purposes require compensation. Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council
Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council
Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, 505 U.S. 1003 , was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States established the "total takings" test for evaluating whether a particular regulatory action constitutes a regulatory taking that requires compensation.-Parties:Plaintiff/Petitioner :...
ruled that numerous environmental concerns were not sufficient to deny all development without compensation. Dolan v. City of Tigard
Dolan v. City of Tigard
Dolan v. City of Tigard, , more commonly Dolan v. Tigard, was a United States Supreme Court case argued before the Court in 1994. It was a landmark case regarding the practice of zoning and property rights, and served to establish limits on the ability of cities and other government agencies, to...
ruled that conditions of a permit must be roughly proportional to the impacts of the proposed new development. Palazzolo v. Rhode Island
Palazzolo v. Rhode Island
Palazzolo v. Rhode Island, 533 U.S. 606 , was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that a claimant does not waive his right to challenge a regulation as an uncompensated regulatory taking by purchasing property after the enactment of the regulation...
ruled property rights are not diminished by unconstitutional laws that exist without challenge at the time the complaining property owner acquired title.
However, the landowner victories have been mostly limited to the U.S. Supreme Court despite that Court's purported overriding authority. Each decision in favor of the landowner is based on the facts of the particular case, so that regulatory takings rulings in favor of landowners are little more than a landowners' mirage. Even the trend of the U.S. Supreme Court may now have reversed with the 2002 ruling in Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency
Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency
Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 535 U.S. 302 , is one of the United States Supreme Court's more recent interpretations of the Takings Clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments....
. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor is an American jurist who was the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States. She served as an Associate Justice from 1981 until her retirement from the Court in 2006. O'Connor was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981...
, who had previously ruled with a 5-4 majority in favor of the landowner, switched sides to favor the government that had delayed development for more than 20 years because of the government's own indecision about alleged concerns to the water quality of Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of , it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is , making it the USA's second-deepest...
.
Equal protection
Specific zoning laws have been overturned in some other U.S. cases where the laws were not applied evenly (violating equal protection) or were considered to violate free speech. In the Atlanta suburb of RoswellRoswell, Georgia
Roswell is a city located in northern Fulton County; it is a suburb of northern Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The 2010 Census population was 88,346. It is the eighth largest city in Georgia...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, an ordinance
Local ordinance
A local ordinance is a law usually found in a municipal code.-United States:In the United States, these laws are enforced locally in addition to state law and federal law.-Japan:...
banning billboard
Billboard (advertising)
A billboard is a large outdoor advertising structure , typically found in high traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertisements to passing pedestrians and drivers...
s was overturned in court on such grounds. It has been deemed that a municipality's sign ordinance must be content neutral with regard to the regulation of signage
Signage
Signage is any kind of visual graphics created to display information to a particular audience. This is typically manifested in the form of wayfinding information in places such as streets or inside/outside of buildings.-History:...
. The City of Roswell
Roswell, Georgia
Roswell is a city located in northern Fulton County; it is a suburb of northern Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The 2010 Census population was 88,346. It is the eighth largest city in Georgia...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
has now instituted a sign ordinance that regulates signage based strictly on dimensional and aesthetic codes, rather than an interpretation of a sign's content (i.e. use of colors, lettering, etc.).
Religious exercise
On other occasions, religious institutions sought to circumvent zoning laws, citing the Religious Freedom Restoration ActReligious Freedom Restoration Act
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, Pub. L. No. 103-141, 107 Stat. 1488 , codified at through , is a 1993 United States federal law aimed at preventing laws that substantially burden a person's free exercise of their religion. The bill was introduced by Howard McKeon of California and...
of 1993 (RFRA). The Supreme Court eventually overturned RFRA in just such a case, City of Boerne v. Flores
City of Boerne v. Flores
City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507 , was a Supreme Court case concerning the scope of Congress's enforcement power under the fifth section of the Fourteenth Amendment...
521 U.S. 507
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1997). However, Congress enacted the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act
Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act
The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act , , codified as et seq., is a United States federal law that prohibits the imposition of burdens on the ability of prisoners to worship as they please, as well as giving churches and other religious institutions a way to avoid burdensome...
(RLUIPA) in 2000 in an effort to correct the constitutionally objectionable problems of the RFRA. In the 2005 case of Cutter v. Wilkinson
Cutter v. Wilkinson
Cutter v. Wilkinson, 544 U.S. 709 , is a case decided by the United States Supreme Court on May 31, 2005, which holds that under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act , prisoners in facilities that accept federal funds cannot be denied accommodations necessary to engage in...
, the United States Supreme Court held RLUIPA to be constitutional as applied to institutionalized persons, but has not yet decided RLUIPA's constitutionality as it relates to religious land uses.
Types
Zoning codes have evolved over the years as urban planning theory has changed, legal constraints have fluctuated, and political priorities have shifted. The various approaches to zoning can be divided into four broad categories: Euclidean, Performance, Incentive, and Design-based.Conventional
Named for the type of zoning code adopted in the town of EuclidEuclid, Ohio
Euclid is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Greater Cleveland Metropolitan Area, and borders Cleveland. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 48,920...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, Euclidean zoning codes are by far the most prevalent in the United States, used extensively in small towns and large cities alike.
Standard Euclidean
Also known as "Building Block" zoning, Euclidean zoning is characterized by the segregation of land uses into specified geographic districts and dimensional standards stipulating limitations on the magnitude of development activity that is allowed to take place on lots within each type of district. Typical types of land-use districts in Euclidean zoning are: residential (single-family), residential (multi-family), commercial, and industrial. Uses within each district are usually heavily prescribed to exclude other types of uses (residential districts typically disallow commercial or industrial uses). Some "accessory" or "conditional" uses may be allowed in order to accommodate the needs of the primary uses. Dimensional standards apply to any structures built on lots within each zoning district, and typically take the form of setbacks, height limits, minimum lot sizes, lot coverage limits, and other limitations on the building envelope.The zoning ordinance of Euclid, Ohio was challenged in court by a local land owner on the basis that restricting use of property violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...
. Though initially ruled unconstitutional by lower courts, the zoning ordinance was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Village of Euclid, Ohio v. Ambler Realty Co.
Village of Euclid, Ohio v. Ambler Realty Co.
Village of Euclid, Ohio v. Ambler Realty Co., , more commonly Euclid v. Ambler, was a United States Supreme Court case argued in 1926...
(1926).
Euclidean zoning is preferred by many municipalities due to its relative effectiveness, ease of implementation (one set of explicit, prescriptive rules), long-established legal precedent, and familiarity to planners and design professionals. Euclidean zoning has received heavy criticism, however, for its lack of flexibility and institutionalization of now-outdated planning theory. Separation of uses contributes to wasteful sprawl development, loss of open space, heavy infrastructure costs, and reliance on the automobile.
Euclidean II
Euclidean II Zoning uses traditional Euclidean zoning classifications (industrial, commercial, multi-family, residential,etc.) but places them in a hierarchical order "nesting" one zoning class within another similar to the concept of Planned Unit Developments (PUD) mixed uses, but now for all zoning districts; in effect, adding a third dimension to flatland Euclidean zoning. For example, multi-family is not only permitted in "higher order" multi-family zoning districts, but also permitted in high order commercial and industrial zoning districts as well. Protection of land values is maintained by stratifying the zoning districts into levels according to their location in the urban society (neighborhood, community, municipality, and region). Euclidean II zoning also incorporates transportation and utilities as new zoning districts in its matrix dividing zoning into three categories: Public, Semi-Public and Private. In addition, all Euclidean II Zoning permitted activities and definitions are tied directly to the state's building code, Municode and the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) assuring statewide uniformity. Euclidean II zoning fosters the concepts of mixed use, new urbanism and "highest and best use"; and, simplifies all zoning classifications into a single and uniform set of activities. It is relatively easy to transition from most existing zoning classification systems to the Euclidean II Zoning system.Smart zoning
Smart zoning (or smart coding) is an alternative to Euclidian zoning. There are a number of different techniques to accomplish smart zoning. Floating zones, cluster zoning, and planned unit development (PUDs) are possible even as the conventional Euclidean code exists, or the conventional code may be completely replaced by a smart code, as the City of Miami is proposing. The following three techniques may be used to accomplish either conventional separation of uses or more environmentally responsible Traditional Neighborhood Development, depending on how the codes are written. For serious reform of Euclidean zoning, TND ordinances such as form-based codes or the SmartCodeSMARTCODE
SmartCode is a unified land development ordinance template for planning and urban design. Originally developed by Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company, this open source program is a model form-based unified land development ordinance designed to create walkable neighborhoods across the full spectrum of...
are usually necessary.
Floating zones involve an ordinance that describes a zone's characteristics and requirements for its establishment, but its location remains undesignated until the board finds that a situation exists which allows the implementation of that type of zone in a particular area. When the criteria of a floating zone is met the floating zone ceases "to float" and is adopted by a zoning amendment. Some states allow this type of zoning like New York and Maryland while states such as Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
do not as an instance of spot zoning
Spot zoning
Spot zoning is the application of zoning to a specific parcel of land within a larger zoned area when the rezoning is usually at odds with a city's master plan and current zoning restrictions. The rezoning may be for the benefit of a particular owner, and at odds with pre-existing adjacent...
. To be upheld the floating zone the master plan must permit floating zones or at least they should not conflict with the master plan. Further, the criteria and standards provided for them should be adequate and the action taken is not arbitrary or unreasonable. Generally, the floating zone is more easily adoptable and immune from legal challenges if it does not differ substantially from zoned area in which it is implemented.
Cluster zoning permits residential uses to be clustered more closely together than normally allowed thereby leaving substantial land area to be devoted to open space.
Planned unit development is cluster zoning but allows for mixed uses
Mixed-use development
Mixed-use development is the use of a building, set of buildings, or neighborhood for more than one purpose. Since the 1920s, zoning in some countries has required uses to be separated. However, when jobs, housing, and commercial activities are located close together, a community's transportation...
including some commercial and light industrial uses in order to blend together a traditional downtown environment but with at a suburban scale. However, some have argued that such a planned unit development may be a sham
Sham
Sham, a word found in Arabic, English and Chinese, may refer to:-Arabic use:* Sham, or Alsahm, the Arabic name for the star Alpha Sagittae* Sham, , al-Sham, or Bilad al-Sham, endonym of the region bordering the eastern Mediterranean Sea, usually known as the Levant or Greater Syria, comprising...
for the purpose of bringing in commercial and industrial uses forbidden by the state's zoning law; some courts have held such a "sham" to be an "arbitrary and capricious abuse" of the police power.
Performance
Also known as "Effects-based planning", Performance Zoning uses performance-based or goal-oriented criteria to establish review parameters for proposed development projects in any area of a municipality. Performance zoning often utilizes a "points-based" system whereby a property developer can apply credits toward meeting established zoning goals through selecting from a 'menu' of compliance options (some examples include: mitigation of environmental impacts, providing public amenities, building affordable housing units, etc.). Additional discretionary criteria may also be established as part of the review process.The appeal of Performance Zoning lies in its high level of flexibility, rationality, transparency and accountability. Performance Zoning avoids the arbitrary nature of the Euclidian approach, and better accommodates market principles and private property rights with environmental protection. However, performance zoning can be extremely difficult to implement and can require a high level of discretionary activity on the part of the supervising authority. For this reason performance zoning has not been widely adopted in the USA, and is usually limited to specific categories within a broader prescriptive code when found. New Zealand's planning system, however, is grounded in effects-based Performance Zoning under the Resource Management Act 1991.
Incentive
First implemented in Chicago and New York City, incentive zoning is intended to provide a reward-based system to encourage development that meets established urban development goals. Typically, a base level of prescriptive limitations on development will be established and an extensive list of incentive criteria will be established for developers to adopt or not at their discretion. A reward scale connected to the incentive criteria provides an enticement for developers to incorporate the desired development criteria into their projects. Common examples include (floor-area-ratioFloor Area Ratio
The floor area ratio or floor space index is the ratio of the total floor area of buildings on a certain location to the size of the land of that location, or the limit imposed on such a ratio....
) bonuses for affordable housing
Affordable housing
Affordable housing is a term used to describe dwelling units whose total housing costs are deemed "affordable" to those that have a median income. Although the term is often applied to rental housing that is within the financial means of those in the lower income ranges of a geographical area, the...
provided on-site and height limit bonuses for the inclusion of public amenities on-site. Incentive zoning has become more common throughout the United States during the last 20 years.
Incentive zoning allows for a high degree of flexibility, but can be complex to administer. The more a proposed development takes advantage of incentive criteria, the more closely it has to be reviewed on a discretionary basis. The initial creation of the incentive structure in order to best serve planning priorities can also be challenging and often requires extensive ongoing revision to maintain balance between incentive magnitude and value given to developers.
Form-based
Form-based zoning relies on rules applied to development sites according to both prescriptive and potentially discretionary criteria. These criteria are typically dependent on lot size, location, proximity, and other various site- and use-specific characteristics. For example, in a largely suburban single family residential area, uses such as offices, retail, or even light industrial could be permitted so long as they conformed(setback, building size, lot coverage, height, and other factors) with other existing development in the area.Design-based codes
Form based codes
A form-based code is a means of regulating development to achieve a specific urban form...
offer considerably more flexibility in building uses than do Euclidean codes, but, as they are comparatively new, may be more challenging to create. Design-based codes have not yet been widely adopted in the United States. When form-based codes do not contain appropriate illustrations and diagrams, they have been criticized as being difficult to interpret.
One example of a recently adopted code with design-based features is the Land Development Code adopted by Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
in 2003. This zoning code creates "form districts" for Louisville Metro. Each form district intends to recognize that some areas of the city are more suburban in nature, while others are more urban. Building setbacks, heights, and design features vary according to the form district. As an example, in a "traditional neighborhood" form district, a maximum setback might be 15 feet (4.6 m) from the property line, while in a suburban "neighborhood" there may be no maximum setback.
Dallas, Texas, is currently developing an optional form-based zoning ordinance.http://www.forwarddallas.org/projects/devcode.php Since the concept of form based codes is relatively new, this type of zoning may be more challenging to enact.
One version of form-based or "form integrated" zoning utilizes a base district overlay method or "composite" zoning. This method is based on a euclidian framework and includes three district components - a use component, a site component and an architectural component. The use component is similar in nature to the use districts of euclidian zoning. However, with an emphasis on form standards, use components are typically more inclusive and broader in scope. The site components define a variety of site conditions from low intensity to high intensity such as size and scale of buildings and parking, accessory structures, drive-through commercial lanes, landscaping, outdoor storage and display, vehicle fueling and washing, overhead commercial service doors, etc. The architectural components address architectural elements and materials. This zoning method is more flexible and contextually adaptable than standard euclidian zoning while being easier to interpret than other form based codes. It has been utilized primarily for contemporary "conventional" standards and has not yet been fully developed for traditional standards.
Euclidean II
Euclidean II Zoning http://www.euclideanii.org uses traditional Euclidean zoning classifications (industrial, commercial, multi-family, residential, etc.) but places them in a hierarchical order "nesting" one zoning class within another similar to the concept of Planned Unit Developments (PUD) mixed uses, but now for all zoning districts; in effect, adding a third dimension to flatland Euclidean zoning.For example, multi-family is not only permitted in "higher order" multi-family zoning districts, but also permitted in high order commercial and industrial zoning districts as well. Protection of land values is maintained by stratifying the zoning districts into levels according to their location in the urban society (neighborhood, community, municipality, and region). Euclidean II zoning also incorporates transportation and utilities as new zoning districts in its matrix dividing zoning into three categories: Public, Semi-Public and Private. In addition, all Euclidean II Zoning permitted activities and definitions are tied directly to the state's building code, Municode and the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS
NAICS
The North American Industry Classification System or NAICS is used by business and government to classify business establishments according to type of economic activity in Canada, Mexico and the United States...
) assuring statewide uniformity. Euclidean II zoning fosters the concepts of mixed use, new urbanism
New urbanism
New Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods that contain a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually continued to reform many aspects of real estate development, urban planning, and municipal land-use...
and "highest and best use"; and, simplifies all zoning classifications into a single and uniform set of activities. It is relatively easy to transition from most existing zoning classification systems to the Euclidean II Zoning system.
Amendments to zoning regulations
Amendments to zoning regulations may be subject to judicial review should such amendments be challenged as ultra viresUltra vires
Ultra vires is a Latin phrase meaning literally "beyond the powers", although its standard legal translation and substitute is "beyond power". If an act requires legal authority and it is done with such authority, it is...
or unconstitutional.
The standard applied to the amendment to determine whether it may survive judicial scrutiny is the same as the review of a zoning ordinance: whether the restriction is arbitrary or whether it bears a reasonable relationship to the exercise of the state's police power.
If the residents in the targeted neighborhood complain about the amendment, their argument in court does not allow them any vested right to keep the zoned district the same. However, they do not have to prove the difficult standard that the amendment amounts to a taking. If the gain to the public for the rezoning is small compared to the hardships that would affect the residents, then the amendment may be granted if it provides relief to the residents.
If the local zoning authority passes the zoning amendment, then spot zoning
Spot zoning
Spot zoning is the application of zoning to a specific parcel of land within a larger zoned area when the rezoning is usually at odds with a city's master plan and current zoning restrictions. The rezoning may be for the benefit of a particular owner, and at odds with pre-existing adjacent...
allegations may arise should the rezoning be preferential in nature and cannot be reasonably justified.
Limitations and criticisms
Land-use zoning is a tool in the treatment of certain social ills, and part of the larger concept of social engineeringSocial engineering (political science)
Social engineering is a discipline in political science that refers to efforts to influence popular attitudes and social behaviors on a large scale, whether by governments or private groups. In the political arena, the counterpart of social engineering is political engineering.For various reasons,...
. Criticism of zoning is widespread, however, and its effectiveness as a tool for promoting or discouraging social change is debatable. The voters of Houston, Texas have rejected implementation of zoning districts through referendums held in 1948, 1962 and 1993.
Circumventions
Existing development in a community is generally not affected by the new zoning laws because it is "grandfatheredGrandfather clause
Grandfather clause is a legal term used to describe a situation in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations, while a new rule will apply to all future situations. It is often used as a verb: to grandfather means to grant such an exemption...
" or legally non-conforming as a nonconforming use
Nonconforming use
A type of zoning variance where a parcel of land may be given an exception from current zoning ordinances due to improvements made by a prior owner or before the current zoning ordinances made the desired use non-conforming under local law....
, meaning the prior development is exempt from compliance. Consequently, zoning can only affect new development in a growing community. In addition, if undeveloped land is zoned to allow development, that land becomes relatively expensive, causing developers to seek land that is not zoned for development, and then seek rezoning of that land themselves. Communities generally react by not zoning undeveloped land to allow development until a developer requests rezoning and presents a suitable plan. Development under this practice appears to be piecemeal and uncoordinated. Communities try to influence the timing of development by government expenditures for new streets, sewers and utilities usually desired for modern developments. However, the development of interstate freeways for purposes unrelated to planned community growth, creates an inexorable rush to develop the relatively cheap land near interchanges. Property tax
Property tax
A property tax is an ad valorem levy on the value of property that the owner is required to pay. The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located; it may be paid to a national government, a federated state or a municipality...
suppression measures such as California Proposition 13
California Proposition 13
There are two different ballot proposition in California called Proposition 13:* California Proposition 13 , about property taxation.* California Proposition 13 , about state officer salary increases....
have led many communities to disregard their comprehensive plans and rezone undeveloped land for retail establishments, desperate to capture sales tax
Sales tax
A sales tax is a tax, usually paid by the consumer at the point of purchase, itemized separately from the base price, for certain goods and services. The tax amount is usually calculated by applying a percentage rate to the taxable price of a sale....
revenue.
In Colorado, local governments are free to not enforce their own zoning and other land regulation laws. This is called selective enforcement. Steamboat Springs CO is an example of a location with illegal buildings and lax enforcement.
Aesthetic
Jurisdictions with highly prescriptive zoning codes can force the uniform adoption of (often unintentionally negative) aesthetic qualities in all new construction due to the inflexibility of the zoning ordinances. This can lead to urban environments dominated by apparently nonsensical or awkward building configurations. An example of this has occurred in the application of the increasingly complex low-rise multi-family residential code in Seattle, Washington.Social
In more recent times, zoning has been criticized by urban planners and scholars (most notably Jane JacobsJane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs, was an American-Canadian writer and activist with primary interest in communities and urban planning and decay. She is best known for The Death and Life of Great American Cities , a powerful critique of the urban renewal policies of the 1950s in the United States...
) as a source of new social ills, including urban sprawl
Urban sprawl
Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density and auto-dependent development on rural land, high segregation of uses Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a...
, the separation of homes from employment, and the rise of "car culture." Some communities have begun to encourage development of denser, homogenized, mixed-use neighborhoods that promote walking and cycling to jobs and shopping. However, a single-family home and car are major parts of the "American Dream
American Dream
The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States in which freedom includes a promise of the possibility of prosperity and success. In the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each...
" for nuclear families
Nuclear family
Nuclear family is a term used to define a family group consisting of a father and mother and their children. This is in contrast to the smaller single-parent family, and to the larger extended family. Nuclear families typically center on a married couple, but not always; the nuclear family may have...
, and zoning laws often reflect this: in some cities, houses that do not have an attached garage
Garage (house)
A residential garage is part of a home, or an associated building, designed or used for storing a vehicle or vehicles. In some places the term is used synonymously with "carport", though that term normally describes a structure that is not completely enclosed.- British residential garages:Those...
are deemed "blighted" and are subject to redevelopment
Redevelopment
Redevelopment is any new construction on a site that has pre-existing uses.-Description:Variations on redevelopment include:* Urban infill on vacant parcels that have no existing activity but were previously developed, especially on Brownfield land, such as the redevelopment of an industrial site...
. Movements that disapprove of zoning, such as New Urbanism
New urbanism
New Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods that contain a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually continued to reform many aspects of real estate development, urban planning, and municipal land-use...
and Smart Growth
Smart growth
Smart growth is an urban planning and transportation theory that concentrates growth in compact walkable urban centers to avoid sprawl and advocates compact, transit-oriented, walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including neighborhood schools, complete streets, and mixed-use development with a...
, generally try to reconcile these competing demands. New Urbanists in particular try through creative urban design solutions that hark back to 1920s and 1930s practices. Late in the 20th century, New Urbanists have also come under attack for encouraging sprawl and for the highly prescriptive nature of their model code proposals.
Exclusionary
Zoning has long been criticized as a tool of racial and socio-economic exclusion and segregation, primarily through minimum lot-size requirements and land-use segregation (sometimes referred to as "environmental racismEnvironmental racism
Environmental racism is a sociological term referring to policies and regulations that disproportionately burden minority communities with negative environmental impacts....
"). Early zoning codes were often explicitly racist.
Exclusionary practices remain common among suburbs wishing to keep out those deemed socioeconomically or ethnically undesirable: for example, representatives of the city of Barrington Hills
Barrington Hills, Illinois
Barrington Hills is a village located about northwest of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. It straddles approximately over four counties, Cook, Kane, Lake, and McHenry. The population was 4,209 at the 2010 census...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
once told the Real Estate section of the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
that the city's 5 acres (20,234.3 m²) minimum lot size helped to "keep out the riff-raff."
Racial
Numerous U.S. States created racial zoning laws (redliningRedlining
Redlining is the practice of denying, or increasing the cost of services such as banking, insurance, access to jobs, access to health care, or even supermarkets to residents in certain, often racially determined, areas. The term "redlining" was coined in the late 1960s by John McKnight, a...
) early on, however such laws were ruled out in 1917 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that such laws interfered with the property rights of owners (Buchanan v. Warley). There were repeated attempts by various states, municipalities, and individuals since then to create zoning and housing laws based on race, however such laws were eventually overturned by the courts. The legality of all discrimination in housing, by public or private entities, was ended by the Fair Housing Act (Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968).
Despite such rulings, many claim that zoning laws are still used for the purpose of racial segregation.
Housing affordability
Zoning has also been implicated as a primary driving factor in the rapidly accelerating unaffordability of housing in urban areas. One mechanism for this is zoning by many suburban and exurban communities for very large minimum residential lot and building sizes in order to preserve home values by excluding poorer people. This shifts the market toward more expensive homes than might ordinarily be built. According to the Manhattan Institute as much as half of the price paid for housing in some jurisdictions is directly attributable to the hidden costs of restrictive zoning regulation.For example, the entire town of Los Altos Hills
Los Altos Hills, California
Los Altos Hills is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 7,922 at the 2010 census. Located in Silicon Valley, Los Altos Hills is one of the wealthiest cities in the nation.-Strictly residential:...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
(with the exception of the local community college and a religious convent) is zoned for residential use with a minimum lot size of one acre (4,000 m²) and a limit of only one primary dwelling per lot. All these restrictions were upheld as constitutional by federal and state courts in the early 1970s. The town traditionally attempted to comply with state affordable housing requirements by counting secondary dwellings (that is, apartments over garages and guest houses) as affordable housing, and since 1989 has also allowed residents to build so-called "granny units".
In 1969 Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
enacted the Massachusetts Comprehensive Permit Act: Chapter 40B, sometimes referred to as the anti-snob zoning statute. Under this law, developers may circumvent local zoning boards in municipalities with less than 10% affordable housing. Similar laws are in place in other parts of the United States (e.g., Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Illinois), though their effectiveness is disputed.