Also known as: municipal governments · local government · municipality
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The government of a particular locality such as a city or county. It possesses authority to enact zoning ordinances that divide land into districts and restrict uses when the classifications are reasonable and substantially related to public health, safety, morals, or general welfare. The same authority is subject to limits including protection of vested rights in preexisting uses, the dormant commerce clause, and requirements for just compensation in eminent domain.
Matrix Technologies purchased land inside City of Norfolk and sought to construct a manufacturing plant. The city had previously divided the area into districts that confined manufacturing to an industrial zone several blocks away. Matrix applied for a variance that the city denied. The denial stood because the classification reasonably advanced public health and safety goals.
Meredith Maxwell had operated a small auto-repair shop on her property for fifteen years when City of Norfolk rezoned the block for residential use only. She continued the repair business without expansion. The city could not force immediate closure because the prior lawful use created a vested right that survived the zoning change.
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Majestic Construction generated construction debris inside City of Norfolk and arranged to ship it to an out-of-state recycler offering lower rates. The city enacted an ordinance requiring all locally generated waste to be processed at a single designated in-state facility. The ordinance fell because it discriminated against interstate commerce by blocking access to out-of-state processors.
Miguel Mendoza obtained a building permit from City of Norfolk under existing zoning and spent substantial sums installing foundation and utilities for a new warehouse. Before any certificate of occupancy issued, the city rezoned the parcel and revoked the permit. The revocation was inequitable because Mendoza had changed position in good-faith reliance on the prior permit.
City of Norfolk approved a redevelopment plan that authorized taking several privately owned parcels for transfer to a private developer promising new office space and increased tax revenue. Maria Morales owned one of the targeted parcels and challenged the taking. The taking was permitted because the plan served a public purpose of economic revitalization even though the land would ultimately be conveyed to private hands.
Mustafa Mahmoud and other nonresidents sought to build multifamily housing in Village of Arlington Heights but were blocked by single-family zoning rules. They sued the village alleging discriminatory impact. The suit was dismissed because the plaintiffs could not show a substantial probability that removal of the zoning would result in the housing they desired.
A municipality may not eliminate a lawful preexisting use immediately upon rezoning. The owner retains a vested right to continue the use unless the right is lost through abandonment, statutory discontinuance, or a reasonable amortization period.
A landowner acquires a vested right when, in good-faith reliance on a permit or existing zoning, the owner makes substantial expenditures or otherwise changes position so that depriving the right would be inequitable. Jurisdictions differ on whether a valid permit plus substantial construction is required or whether a balancing test applies.
No. An ordinance that forces all locally produced solid waste to be processed at a designated in-state facility before export discriminates against interstate commerce and is unconstitutional as a protectionist barrier.
No. Zoning ordinances that divide a municipality into districts and restrict land uses are a valid exercise of the police power when the classification is reasonable and bears a substantial relation to public health, safety, morals, or general welfare.
…pp. 282-283, said: “In the first place, the exclusion of business establishments from residence districts might enable the municipal government to give better police protection. Patrolmen’s beats are larger, and therefore fewer, in residence neighborhoods than in business neighborhoods. A place of business in a residence…