Zoning & Nuisance

Question 1

Racial Zoning

Answer 1

FHA enacted zoning ordinances and land-use regulations that effectively barred Blacks and other minority groups from living in certain neighborhoods. These policies were grounded in the belief in white supremacy and aimed to maintain racial segregation, ensuring that black and white Americans lived separately. See Buchanan

Question 2

Use Zoning

Answer 2

Use zoning divides municipalities into districts and regulates the kinds of uses allowed within each district. (i.e., apt. buildings not allowed in single family home district)

Question 3

Area Zoning

Answer 3

regulates the size of lots, the height of buildings, requirements to set back structures a certain distance from property borders, and other aspects of the physical configuration of the property.

Question 4

Euclid (RULE)

Answer 4

Zoning ordinances are a valid exercise of the police power and are only unconstitutional if they are clearly arbitrary and unreasonable, having no substantial relation to the public health, safety, morals, or general welfare.

Question 5

Moore - single family zoning

Answer 5

Local housing ordinances that define ‘family’ in a manner that prohibits certain categories of related individuals from living together violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment when they intrude on choices concerning family living arrangements and do not adequately serve a legitimate governmental interest.

Question 6

Belle Terre- social context of zoning decisions

Answer 6

“Public welfare” Local governments have the authority to enact zoning regulations that promote family values, youth values, and the blessings of quiet seclusion and clean air, which are considered legitimate state objectives. These regulations can define ‘family’ to limit the number of unrelated individuals living together, as long as the ordinance does not infringe upon fundamental rights and passes rational-basis scrutiny.

Question 7

Mt. Laurel - exclusionary law in NJ

Answer 7

Can’t constructively prevent based on income. The town must change its rules to make different housing options possible, including low and moderate income housing, to provide its fair share of the area’s need.

Question 8

Mt. Laurel I

Answer 8

In Mount Laurel I, the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered Mount Laurel to amend its zoning law to remove unconstitutional restrictions on the development of low- and moderate-income housing.

Question 9

inclusionary zoning

Answer 9

Many municipalities have adopted linkage ordinances that condition real estate development on either providing a certain percentage of housing units for low-income persons or paying a tax to a municipal fund for this purpose.

Question 10

Nuisance Law Basics

Answer 10

A substantial and unreasonable interference with the use or enjoyment of land.

Public nuisance - an unreasonable interference with a right common to the general public.