Zoning Paper

Introduction

Zoning is one of the most visible and important functions of local governments, this is what makes land use management catch the public interest. The public put a lot of pressure on local governments to “get it right” when making zoning decisions. Many critical zoning decisions are made by citizens serving on government panels rather than by professionally trained local government officials. Zoning is now widely used in North Carolina as well as around the nation. However, we live in a time when there is great interest in protecting private property rights and great skepticism about government regulatory programs. In addition, zoning has become our principal tool for protecting property values and providing a stable real estate market. By using zoning to prevent incompatible uses from being too close together and by providing a degree of stability to the land market that property owners and developers both find reassuring. Zoning is one of the most visible activities and controversial powers of local governments. Local governments must make many decisions in the process of adopting, amending, administering, and enforcing zoning ordinances.

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify what zoning is, how zoning ordinances influence a neighborhood or community, go into detail with zoning variances, grasp an understanding of how public hearings are taken place, and how zoning can influence our lives and even our property. This paper is to actually break down the basic framework of zoning ordinances, and understanding that local governments use many tools for land use, planning, and regulations. The principal tool for land use regulation in North Carolina and across the country is zoning. The next couple of sections will discuss zoning ordinances, key players in making zoning decisions, and zoning variances.

The Meaning Of Zoning

In the early days of New York City zoning, documents stated in a rather straight forward manner that...