Land use and zoning laws have been a trending topic in recent years, gaining significant public attention across the United States. People are beginning to rethink the ways that our cities have been planned, seeking ways to improve their quality of life- and it often stems from codes and policies that dictate what can be built and where. Zoning that is too restrictive often makes it difficult for developers to build necessary projects such as multi-family housing. But when zoning is too loose, it creates neighborhoods that aren’t walkable and don’t have a strong sense of community.
Zoning laws organize how land is allowed to be used. It establishes patterns of development across cities by identifying what can and cannot be built on a parcel of land. Zoning resolutions divide large areas of land into districts where rules help create a sense of place by defining similar building shapes or massing, the types of businesses or housing that can be located there, the required width of sidewalks, housing affordability, parking, and other requirements that define a neighborhood. Zoning prevents enormous skyscrapers that house commercial office space from being located in the middle of a low-rise, 5-story neighborhood. Additionally, zoning can limit the industrial use of land to prevent oil, manufacturing, and other similar businesses from being located too close to residential areas for safety and health reasons.
Zoning laws can be changed, and in many instances, entire areas re-zoned or up-zoned if different property types can benefit a neighborhood and stimulate it economically. However, this often comes with critiques about how changing neighborhoods impacts other people. Zoning can have adverse effects, including widening gaps between socioeconomic groups. This is most commonly seen when neighborhoods are restricted in the kinds of housing they can build, leading to severe housing shortages, or when other neighborhoods become gentrified because luxury housing and high-end amenities drive up housing costs and push people to other areas.
Zoning differs in each city across the United States and some have begun to rethink how their zoning laws can help create better neighborhoods that are more sustainable and provide equal opportunities for all of their residents. In late 2018, the Minneapolis City Council voted to pass a new housing plan that would effectively end single-family zoning in the city. More than 70% of the city’s land had been dedicated to the current and future planning of single-family homes, but this move allowed property owners to be able to build duplexes and triplexes or expand their existing homes to create multiple dwelling units. This gained significant attention, as other cities grappled with rising housing costs and increasing demand for housing. Along with eliminating single-family zoning, parking minimums, or requirements handed to developers to provide a certain number of off-street parking spaces for each unit, were also eliminated, helping to promote a car-free city. Today, most of the permits being filed for new developments are structures with five or more units, with the average size building being 75 units. Apartment buildings near central business districts are even bigger- over ten stories high with hundreds of units.
Houston, Texas, on the other hand, conducts their city planning by having no zoning laws at all, specifically no zoning for land use. Under their development code, no parcel of land is restricted for a specific use, and oftentimes this comes with no density or height restrictions either. To ensure that the city doesn’t get too disjointed, other regulations including strict private deed restrictions that are enacted by neighborhoods are put into place. This prevents large commercial office parks from being developed in the middle of residential areas, but often times these deeds are not enforced unless the public files complaints. This gives the power of deciding how the city should be planned back to the residents.
Zoning and issues surrounding land use adjacencies will continue to be a top-of-mind issue as the cities we live in evolve and expand. While no city has found the perfect solution to ensure that all of its planning needs are met, different approaches to zoning can help.
