Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Zoning

What?

1. Regulate land use
2. Uses, density, height, setbacks, bulk coverage (FAR – floor area ratio)

• Have to watch how all these things interact (i.e. FAR can be effected by height limits)
  

Where?

1. LA pre WWII, NYC
2. Euclid versus Abler Realty 1926

• Zoning is okay under police power to protect health, welfare, and safety

• Euclidian Zoning

- separation of conflicting land uses

*common criticism to Euclidian Zoning is that you come up with cookie cutter style of development, 1960s cookie cutter development without sidewalks

3.Standard Enabling Act

- property values

Why?

1. Separation of conflicting land uses
2. Property values
3. Health, safety, welfare issues
4. Implement the Comprehensive Plan
5. 
   

How (hybrids)?

1. Map (developed from future land use map) and text
2. Identify zones (R, C, M, P, I) and districts within the zones (R-1, R-2, R-3)
1. Permitted Uses (by-right)
1. Single family – R-1

Go to these entities to get a permitted use:

Zoning Administrator (in smaller community)

Planning Commission (in larger city) to a staff person

1. Gives out Zoning permits
2. Rules on zoning questions
2. Special Exceptions Uses
1. Want to allow it to happen, but set certain standards on that use
2. i.e. in an R-1 district and want to put Daycare in home, must have a maximum number children allowed
3. Conditional Uses – i.e. maybe churches in an R-1 district
4. Not permitted – (if it is not mentioned in the permitted use, special exceptions or conditional use, it is not allowed) ie. Industry in residential neighborhood
3. PUD planned unit development, came about in the 1960s as a way to have negotiated mixed use

• Negotiated among developers and community through the planning commission

• Could have a floating zone in order to work a PUD

4. Overlay zone – shown on the zoning map and in effect creates a double zone

• Often used to protect environmental concerns (such as steep slope or flooding)

• Stricter provisions of overlaid zone and zone it is laid onto takes precedent

5. Performance Zoning: impacts, trees, berms, noise

• Hard to write accurately

• Elements can be written into an ordinance

6. Form Based Codes

• What is the built environment going to look like

• Because typical land use zoning does not give you an idea of what development is going to look like

*these techniques can be used to clean up the mess that 50 years of suburban development has caused. Planners will now spend their careers trying to correct.

Who?

1. Planning Commission – has ultimate responsibility
1. Staff and/or consultants
2. Perhaps a developer

Zoning Board of Adjustments (3 people, appointed)

• special exceptions
• appeals
• variances
1. physical
2. use – absolute no-no according to Daniels, has been used as a way to get around the planning commission and just use the zoning board of adjustments – should instead get a re-zoning of the property – could also be seen as spot zoning which is favoritism and will not hold up in court (spot zoning is illegal)