Also known as: land-use regulation · land use regulation · land use regulations · zoning · land-use controls
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Rules enacted by government bodies that restrict how land may be used or developed. These rules include zoning ordinances that divide municipalities into districts and limit permissible activities to advance public health, safety, morals, or general welfare. A regulation may be invalid if it lacks a substantial relation to those interests, arbitrarily deprives an owner of beneficial use, or reflects mere prejudice rather than a legitimate governmental purpose.
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Latoya Lane applied for a special-use permit to open a supervised group home for adults with intellectual disabilities on a residential lot. The city council denied the permit after neighbors expressed fears about safety and property values, with no evidence of actual increased risk presented. The denial rested solely on the residents' mental condition rather than any legitimate zoning concern.
Levi Lowe operated a small machine shop on property zoned residential after a later zoning change prohibited industrial uses. The city attempted to shut down the shop immediately upon discovering the change. Lowe retained the right to continue the prior lawful use because the vested right to a nonconforming use protects pre-existing property rights from abrupt elimination.
Lance Lee purchased land subject to a private covenant limiting building height. The city later enacted a stricter zoning ordinance on the same parcel. The zoning ordinance operates independently of the private covenant because public land-use regulations fall outside the definition of servitudes that run with land between private parties.
Layla Lane owned a corner lot that the city rezoned from commercial to single-family residential with no evidence linking the change to health, safety, or welfare concerns. The new classification prevented any economically viable use of the parcel. The ordinance as applied to the specific land was invalid because it bore no substantial relation to a legitimate public purpose.
Luis Lopez obtained a building permit and spent substantial sums beginning construction of a multi-unit development under existing zoning. The city then rezoned the area to single-family use. Lopez could complete the project because good-faith reliance on the permit and substantial expenditures created a vested right that equity protects against later rezoning.
Lars Lindstrom owned a historic commercial building whose designation under a landmark ordinance prevented any economically viable redevelopment. The regulation left the owner with reasonable beneficial use while advancing a legitimate public interest in preservation. The ordinance did not constitute a compensable taking under the multi-factor regulatory takings analysis.
A regulation effects a taking when it denies an owner economically viable use of land or fails the multi-factor test considering economic impact, interference with investment-backed expectations, and the character of the government action. Regulations that substantially advance legitimate public interests and leave reasonable beneficial use intact generally do not require compensation.
An owner generally holds a vested right to continue a use that was lawful when established even if later zoning prohibits it. The right may be lost only through abandonment, discontinuance for the statutory period, or in some jurisdictions through a reasonable amortization period.
…have been erected. On November 13, 1922, an ordinance was adopted by the Village Council, establishing a comprehensive zoning plan for regulating and restricting the location of trades, industries, apartment houses, two-family houses, single family houses, etc., the lot area to be built upon, the size and height…
…safety, morals, or general welfare” would be promoted by prohibiting particular contemplated uses of land
…perceiving no denigration of state administrative process in according full judicial review. [^maj-6]: Euclid held that land-use regulations
…v. Dawson , 3 Hill 100, 103 (S. C. 1836). Although, prior to the adoption of the Bill of Rights, America was replete with land-use regulations
…as a condition of a building permit does not change that conclusion. The Commission’s argument that the condition is a valid land-use regulation
Classifications involving persons with intellectual disabilities receive rational basis review. A zoning denial lacks a legitimate governmental interest and violates equal protection when it rests on mere prejudice rather than evidence of actual risk or other rational concerns.
A landowner acquires a vested right when acting in good-faith reliance on a permit or existing zoning and making substantial expenditures or otherwise changing position so that denying the right would be inequitable. Jurisdictions vary on whether a valid permit plus substantial construction is required or whether a balancing test applies.
Public land-use regulations such as zoning are not servitudes. Servitudes are private devices that create rights and obligations running with land between parties, whereas zoning and similar public regulations operate independently under the police power.