Zoning

Question 1

Authority to Zone

Answer 1

• doesn’t come automatically - ultimate source usually statute

Question 2

Zoning

Answer 2

• calls for comprehensive plan - need not be in writing, can be implicit in zoning ordinance

Question 3

Local Zoning Laws

Answer 3

• most common form of public regulation designed to regulate neighborhood effects and externalities
• two broad types: Euclidean and planned unit developments

Question 4

Board of Zoning Appeals

Answer 4

• hears appeals from officials’ denial of building permits
• hears requests for variances
• hears requests for special exceptions

Question 5

Zoning - Variances

Answer 5

• more discretionary - might deal w/ cases of unnecessary hardship
• can often be granted by administrators or zoning board of appeals

Question 6

Zoning - Special Exceptions

Answer 6

• based on specific criteria in the zoning ordinance - they’re permitted as of right (not discretionary, unlike variances) but you have to meet the specific criteria set out in the ordinance

Question 7

Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co. - Significance

Answer 7

• the Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of local zoning ordinances
• in upholding zoning ordinances against constitutional attack, SCOTUS expressly recognized zoning designed to minimize nuisance-like incompatibilities
• also indicated protection of the single-family home was the dominant objective

Question 8

Euclidean Zoning

Answer 8

• starts w/ map of local community -> neighborhoods get marked off in zones having different types of land uses (industrial, commercial, residential, etc)
• individual parcels are restricted to uses permitted in their zone

Question 9

Cumulative Zoning vs. Noncumulative

Answer 9

• cumulative means uses ranked in a hierarchy from most to least intensive, + can devote one’s land to the designated use plus any less intensive uses
• noncumulative - only the designated use in your zone is permitted

Question 10

Village of Euclid - Facts

Answer 10

• Ambler’s land got zoned in a way that excluded industrial uses from a large part of it -> reduced the land’s value to 1/4 what it would be as all industrial
• ordinance was challenged framed as a due process claim (although likely these days would say takings) -> Ambler said the mere existence of the ordinance invaded constitutionally protected property rights

Question 11

Requirements for Constitutional Zoning Under Euclid

Answer 11

• not arbitrary or unreasonable,

- okay as long as they have some rational relation to public health, safety, morals, or general welfare.

Question 12

Zoning and Preventing Nuisances

Answer 12

• theoretically designed to prevent nuisance, but also odd b/c implying certain uses would be a nuisance w/o actually litigating it
• designed to prevent nuisance-like behavior, but doesn’t rest on any actual finding of nuisance

Question 13

Village of Euclid - Exclusionary Aspect

Answer 13

• judge referred to apartment buildings as “parasites” (notion that apartment buildings in and of themselves are nuisances - problematic)
• zoning scheme had an exclusionary aspect to it -> class anxiety involved, income + racial discrimination happening through zoning
• hard to separate out discrimination from legitimate aims of zoning (ex: traffic and density concerns often cited to rule out apartment buildings)

Question 14

Nonconforming Uses

Answer 14

• happens when there’s a property that’s being used in a certain way when the zoning scheme is implemented + the use conflicts w/ the zoning
• theoretically, you wouldn’t be allowed to start doing it, but you can keep doing it b/c you were already there

Question 15

Nonconforming Uses - Competing Treatments

Answer 15

• constitutionally protected in some states as “vested rights”
• permanently grandfathered in in some communities
• other communities give finite period to continue operating before need to adopt conforming use or abandon

Question 16

Tiebout Hypothesis

Answer 16

• views local govs as offering distinctive packages of local public goods + services (schools, parks, police protection) in return for different prices (property taxes)

Question 17

Zoning - Problems

Answer 17

• artificial scarcity (may ultimately increase housing prices)
• exclusionary zoning
• segregation
• inequalities

Question 18

Zoning and Outsiders

Answer 18

• since zoning = form of local regulation, nothing to ensure interests of outsiders are factored in -> concern that zoning laws are designed, either deliberately or inadvertently, to exclude racial minorities and poor from communities

Question 19

Potential Solutions to Exclusionary Zoning

Answer 19

• NJ courts have held exclusionary zoning violates state constitution + required communities to amend ordinances to include more generous allocation for low + moderate income housing (still locked in battle w/ legislature over this though)
• one potential solution - relocate land-use planning functions from local to regional or state governments - would allow a wider range of interests to be represented in the planning process
• BUT above solution would also mean sacrifice detailed knowledge about local conditions + preferences