Zoning & Use of Land

Zoning refers to the laws dividing cities into different areas according to use, from single-family residences to industrial plants. Zoning ordinances control the size, location, and use of buildings within these different areas.

Zoning works as a function to divide a municipality properly into different districts or zones, thus assigning distinct land use for each district. A zoning commission will generally separate land use into several categories (residential, industrial, commercial, or agricultural). In some cases, further distinctions will be made such as the division of industrial districts into heavy or light industry, or the division of residential districts into:

single-family residences
low-density multiple family residences
medium-density multiple-family residences
high-density multiple-family residences

Zoning Regulation

Because zoning regulations will sometimes restrict the rights of owners to use their property the way they would like to, they can at times become controversial. Courts have determined that zoning regulation is permissible if it is reasonable and not arbitrary. It must bear a substantial relation to public health, safety, morals and general welfare.

How far can land use regulation go before reaching constitutional injunctions against taking private property for public use without just compensation? Due to recent court decisions, it is more difficult for municipalities to require land developers to give up parts of their property for public purposes. These cases help define the point at which government demand for control over the land reaches a point that it must compensate the owner through eminent domain and condemnation of the property.

Zoning and the Law

A zoning ordinance must comply with the zoning provisions of the U.S. Constitution. A zoning ordinance could be illegal if it amounts to an unconstitutional taking of property in violation of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. This occurs if a municipality enacts a law that prohibits certain types of development on a piece of land, limiting the scope of permissible development. In such cases, a court will consider whether the law overly burdened the landowner’s use of the property without providing just compensation for the diminished value of the land. The landowner must then prove that the land was rendered valueless.

A zoning law may be considered unconstitutional on substantive due process grounds if the law does not advance a legitimate public purpose. In addition, a law may also be considered unconstitutional if the state or municipality did not follow the established procedures for enacting a zoning law.

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