Also known as: master plans · comprehensive plan · general plan
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A municipal plan adopted by a locality to guide the coordinated physical development of its territory, including the location of housing, industry, recreation facilities, and infrastructure. The plan projects environmental impacts and supplies the policy framework against which zoning ordinances and rezonings are measured for consistency with the general welfare.
Matthew Martinez owns a single lakeshore parcel inside a conservation corridor shown on the city master plan. He petitions the council to rezone the parcel for an eco-lodge. After notice and hearing the council approves the change with conditions limiting building size and requiring habitat restoration. Adjacent owner Maria Morales sues, claiming the amendment benefits only one owner and departs from the master plan corridor policy.
The city adopts a master plan designating future arterial roads and infrastructure corridors. It then approves a subdivision plat consistent with that plan. When a later owner blocks access across a corridor shown on the plan, an adjacent owner claims the plat must remain consistent with the master plan's coordinated development goals.
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The city adopts a master plan imposing landscaping and access requirements on every parcel within a planned business district. It sells one lot to Michael Miller and another to Madison Meyers. When Miller later paves over a required buffer, Meyers asserts that her lot benefits from the coordinated development policies stated in the master plan.
The city landmarks commission designates Marathon Logistics warehouse as a landmark after comparing the building to the master plan and projected renewal plans. Marathon objects that the designation prevents redevelopment shown as appropriate in the master plan. The board of estimate reviews the designation against those same plan documents before final action.
The village adopts a zoning ordinance dividing land into residence, commercial, and industrial districts after the planning commission prepares a master plan showing future growth patterns. Ambler Realty challenges the ordinance as arbitrary. The court sustains the districts because they bear a rational relation to the coordinated development goals stated in the master plan.
The city council adopts the Petaluma Plan limiting annual housing permits to five hundred units and establishing a greenbelt. Construction Industry Association sues, arguing the limits exceed the master plan projections. The court upholds the caps because they implement the coordinated development and infrastructure goals set out in the plan.
A master plan is the published document prepared by the planning commission that maps future land uses and infrastructure. A comprehensive plan is the broader policy framework that zoning must follow. Some jurisdictions treat the master plan as the written embodiment of that framework while others require only generalized consistency.
A rezoning must bear a substantial relation to the public health, safety, or general welfare and remain consistent with the master plan. When a change benefits only one parcel and lacks a legitimate public purpose, courts may invalidate it as spot zoning.
A rezoning must remain consistent with the master plan's coordinated development policies. When a change benefits only one parcel and lacks a legitimate public purpose, courts may invalidate it as spot zoning.
The landmarks commission and board of estimate review a proposed designation against the master plan, zoning resolution, and projected public improvements before final action.
…districts is not a declaration that such places are nuisances or that they are to be suppressed as such, but it is a part of the general plan by which the city’s territory is allotted to different uses in order to prevent, or at least to reduce, the congestion, disorder and dangers which often inhere in unregulated municipal…