| Purposes of Zoning | The Downtown Master Plan |
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Where there is no evidence that the legislative body's zoning decision was based upon a factual and analytical framework, no consideration of significant conditions in the community, and no focus on the particular piece of property at issue, the zoning decision must be suspect. The factual studies and analytical framework necessary to review zoning decisions most often are manifest in the form of comprehensive plans...Although the logic of having zoning regulations follow the Master Plan is inescapable, in practice that is not how it has happened. In most communities, Master Plans were looked on by the public as government instilling its will on private property owners, while zoning was seen as the tool for protecting personal private property rights and property values.This view has been taken by courts in many states. For example, in Raabe v. City of Walker, 383 Mich. 165, 174 N.W.2nd 789 (1970) the Supreme Court of Michigan noted that:
"The absence of a formally adopted municipal plan, whether mandated by statute or not, does not, of course, invalidate municipal zoning or rezoning. But it does, as in Biske, supra., weaken substantially the well known presumption which, ordinarily, attends any regular-on-its-face municipal zoning ordinance or amendment thereof." 174 N.W.2d at 796.1
It is not mere coincidence that the concept of zoning came into being at the same time suburban areas were first being developed. The construction of inter-urban transit lines and the development of the automobile allowed middle and upper class residents to leave the density and congestion of the central urban areas and buy a house on a larger lot just outside the urban fringe. These homeowners, who had just "escaped," developed a real concern that the problems of the city would follow them to their new, pristine environments. To keep this from happening, they needed to have protective regulations, and zoning provided the perfect vehicle to give this protection. Thus, in spite of how it was stated in theory, zoning's real purpose was to protect single-family homeowners and their neighborhoods. In fact, zoning has been considered by most middle and upper income homeowners as the primary method for protecting their home and property, and this has led to its incredible popularity and support.
No one is enthusiastic about zoning except the people. The non-people--the professionals--hope it gets lost. The judges find zoning a monumental bore, most lawyers consider it a nuisance, and the planners treat it as a cretinous member of the planning family about whom the less said the better.2In a sense, it must be seen that planning follows zoning, and gives legitimacy to it. Planning may seem more legitimate, since it can consider the broad implications of social issues and ills, and appear to accommodate the concerns of all segments of society. But planning is perceived as big on theory and concept and short on practical application. It is zoning, the behind-the-scenes tool whose importance is largely overlooked, that a community ultimately relies on for protection.
Zoning can be viewed as just one of the many tools a city has to deal with questions of land use and development, and to carry out the objectives of planning. But in essence it is just about the only effective tool a city has to deal with these agendas. To be involved with a planning commission or planning department at a local level, it becomes obvious that communities do not really plan -- they just zone. Planning may determine capital expenditure projects, and the location of public services and infrastructure, but it is zoning that defines the ultimate use of each particular parcel of developed land.
Peter Marcuse, in an article written for the APA (American Planning Association) Journal, lists a number of "critical junctures" in the history of planning where planners could have had a significant impact, but instead waived their responsibility. As he describes it, one of those key junctures took place in the 1920s, when zoning was first becoming accepted. Marcuse contends that planners defaulted by not embracing zoning, but rather seeing it as a threat to them professionally. Because of this, they lost the opportunity to mold the concept of zoning to also deal with social ills, and "...reject its use to exclude the poor, blacks, or unconventional households, from entrenched residential communities, which made zoning more a tool to protect real estate values than to improve the quality of life in democratic communities."3
In the areas where it was applied, zoning has been justified on the basis of its retaining property values. Initially, this appears to be a positive aspect. The defense of zoning is usually stated in fiscal terms. This argument usually says that to keep taxes in line there should not be an undue burden on local services, including schools. Therefore growth must be contained. Larger properties provide relatively higher tax base with minimal cost for services.
However, zoning is a government program, and as such it should serve the needs of the larger community first. The stability resulting from zoning is not uniform throughout the community as a whole. What must be recognized is that although it may help maintain property values in one area, it may cause a decline in property values in another neighborhood, where those who cannot break the zoning barrier must remain. Thus, the question must be asked whether the overall community benefit is served, or is the gain in one neighborhood more than offset in other neighborhoods, indirectly impacted by zoning, where it does not work to the advantage of residents, but through benign neglect to their disadvantage.
1 Robert L. Judkins. 1990. "The Presumption of Validity Is Weakened Without Adequate Planning." Planning and Zoning News. August 1990. p. 8.
2 Babcock. The Zoning Game. p. 17.
3 Peter Marcuse. "Who/ What Decides What Planners Do?". APA Journal, Winter 1989: 79-81.
| Purposes of Zoning | The Downtown Master Plan |
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| Legal Aspects of Zoning | Performance Zoning |
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