This Hornbook introduces the fundamentals of land use planning and control law. Subjects covered include the planning process, zoning, development permission, subdivision control law, and building and housing codes. Discusses constitutional limitations and the environmental aspects of land use controls. Explores aesthetic regulation, historic preservation, and agricultural land protection.

Comprehensive Plans and the Planning Process; Land Use Control by Zoning: History, Sources of Power and Purposes; Types of Zones and Uses; Types of Zoning Relief: Obtaining or Resisting Development Permission; Exclusionary Zoning; Subdivision Control Law; Building anti Housing Codes; Growth Management; Constitutional Issues; Environmental Aspects of Land Use Controls; Aesthetic Regulation and Historic Preservation; Agricultural Lands Protection and Preservation; Nuisances; Private Land Use Controls; The Power of Eminent Domain.

Despite roughly thirty years of experience with growth management programs, which are basically land-use planning tools, most U.S. communities do not plan for how best to limit or manage rapid growth; in fact, most communities do not plan at all. In the absence of planning, land-use boards, regulators, and other governing bodies simply react to initiatives from the private sector. The result is predictably haphazard and does not allow communities to achieve such goals as protecting quality of life, attracting certain types of businesses while discouraging others, conserving wildlife or preserving open spaces, and so forth. In contrast, planning by managing growth can help a town or city achieve any number of goals. But it is a complex task. This book brings the benefit of state and local experiences with growth management to researchers, students, and particularly practitioners who seek guidance in these matters. Kelly provides a much-needed context from which any community can answer the following questions: Does growth management work? Is it appropriate for the community and the particular problems that it is trying to address? Is one type of growth management program more appropriate than another for our community? Will the program in question have undesirable (or desirable) side effects?What are the likely effects of adopting no growth management program at all? This work is invaluable for the citizen volunteers who sit on land-use boards, including planning and zoning commissions, conservation commissions, and inland wetlands agencies. In addition, it can aid mayors, city managers, and city councils in interviewing and selecting candidates for town planner.

A major revision of a classic planning text. This book contains a complete model subdivision ordinance for city and county governments as well as more than 100 pages of legal commentary. The model regulations are generally compatible with all state statutes and work in urban, suburban, and rural settings. They show how communities can finance capital facilities, balance new development with existing surroundings, avoid exposure to the legal pitfalls of takings and substantive due process claims, and much more. Two new chapters cover public facilities impact fees and land readjustment. The chapter on impact fees includes a section on regulatory takings law that looks at how prominent U.S. Supreme Court cases have affected property rights, development, and regulation. Each section of the model regulations is followed by insightful commentary that supports, annotates, and documents the text. The authors explore the rationale for using various regulations, basing their arguments on existing statutory authority, case law, and federal constitutional requirements. The commentary identifies and explains changes from the original model regulations. Whether you're drafting new regulations or considering amendments to existing ones, you'll find Model Subdivision Regulations to be an invaluable reference.