Land Use Regulations Flashcards
1
Q
Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co.
A
- Euclid: A zoning ordinance that prohibited industrial uses and caused a 75% reduction in the market value of land was not an unconstitutional taking bc ordinance served a legitimate public interest → therefore not clearly arbitrary and unreasonable, having no substantial relation to the public health, safety, or general welfare
2
Q
Motivation for zoning:
A
(1) justified as a means of prospectively limiting the harms that might arise from the proximity of incompatible land uses; (2) Tool that local govt use to influence the composition of their communities and the tax and budgeting implications that flow from that composition
3
Q
zoning enabling acts
A
- States often delegate zoning power through legislation (zoning enabling acts) to local governments
- Voters in the local govt elect a governing body (has power to adopt local laws governing land use)
- ZEA require local govt to establish comprehensive plan (residential etc) prepared by planning commission (comm members appointed by local legislative body) aided by planning depart (professional planners)
- ZEAs authorize municipalities to delegate power to an administrative agency called the zoning board (evaluate requests for administrative relief from zoning requirements)
4
Q
The Planning Commission
A
- No power to pass a zoning law itself
- Receives petitions for rezoning from particular landowners who are seeking amendments
- Hold public hearings,
- Investigate and obtain relevant information,
- Develop the comprehensive plan (and often the zoning law as well)
- Recommend changes over time in the local zoning law or in standards for applying or administering it
5
Q
When the conditions warrant changing the ordinance
A
- Most ZEA require any changes in the zoning ordinance to accord with the general plan (This plan can change over time but zoning decisions are intended to be made with a large, long-range view of how uses harmonize in the city as a whole)
6
Q
deference to zoning amendments:(split)
A
- Some cts will hold strictly to the requirement that the zoning proceed in accord with the general plan (strike down any zoning amendments that are not sufficiently justified - comprehensive plan)
- Others grant greater discretion to the governing body
In either case, strategy for owner aggrieved by a zoning amendment is to argue: The change is not in accord with the existing comprehensive plan or that it is inconsistent with any rational plan
7
Q
Use zoning
A
into districts and regulates the kinds of uses allowed (agricultural, residential, commercial etc)
8
Q
Area zoning
A
- the size of lots, the height of the buildings, requirements to set back structures a certain distance from property borders and other aspects of the physical configuration of the property
9
Q
Zoning map
A
where specific zones are physically located in a given jurisdiction
10
Q
Other land use regulatory regimes
A
- regimes (large-scale development in general requires site-plan review)
- Subdivision regulation: to subdivide a large parcel (to build a neighborhood of single-family homes) must go through rigorous review process to ensure e.g. subdivision will have sufficient infrastructure such as streets, sidewalks, etc and that the subdivision will conform to legal require. for lot sizes, etc
- Housing, building, and development codes: focus on structural safety, the quality of building materials, public health concerns (sufficient light and air in residential buildings)
- Recent years: building codes increasingly focus on issues of energy efficiency and sustainability
11
Q
Modernizing zoning 2 kinds
A
- Euclidean: focus on separating uses in order to prospectively manage land use conflicts
- Modern land use regulation: focus as much on development incentives, community aesthetics, combating big box development, and history preservation as it does on classifying land
12
Q
Patterns in land use litigation: two types
A
- An aggrieved property owner having problem with land use restriction, challenges a given action by the relevant local government agency (e.g. zoning interferes with an existing use or owner’s plans for property)
- Owner is granted the right to do smt with her property that neighbors object to
- Question of standing: turn on a fact-specific combination of legislative authorization under the relevant zoning code and an analysis of the extent of the injury to the neighbor
13
Q
Community benefit agreements
A
- specify obligations for developers e.g. affordable housing, local jobs
14
Q
SLAPP suits
A
- (strategic lawsuits against public participation): Developers sometimes bring suit against community groups or environmental groups opposing the development e.g. defamation (mostly dismissed bc Ds have free speech rights and the statements opinions not statements of fact so cannot be true or false)
- Ds can bring (1) countersuit (SLAPP-back) – tort of malicious prosecution, frivolous law suit, (2) sanctions against the Ps attorney (violated the state ethical guidelines against bringing litigation for the sole purpose of harassment), (3) if fed. Court – Rule 11 sanctions (claim lacks any basis in law)
- Some states regulate SLAPP suits by statute
15
Q
Prior Nonconforming Uses
A
- bc nonconforming uses are inconsistent with objective of uniform zoning, the cts have required - consistent with the property rights of those affected with substantial justice, they should be reduced to conformity as quickly as is compatible with justice (majority: run with the land - valuable)
- To achieve these ends, municipalities can restrict nonconforming uses so that they do not: (1) Change the use; (2) Enlarge or extend the repair or replacement of nonconforming structures; and (3) Continue despite evidence of abandonment or discontinuance
- When there is doubt - whether an enlargement or change is substantial, the cts have consistently declared that it is to be resolved against the enlargement or change
