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Full-Text Articles in Land Use Law
A Case For Zoning, Christopher Serkin
A Case For Zoning, Christopher Serkin
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Due to a remarkable convergence of criticisms from both the right and the left, zoning is under more sustained attack than at any time in the last seventy-five years. A consensus is building that zoning is what ails America. Simultaneously, the traditional justifications for zoning like separating incompatible uses, have become increasingly anachronistic in an age of mixed-use development and a desire for vibrant, dynamic places. This Article offers an updated defense of zoning, and in particular density regulations. Today, local governments deploy zon- ing not primarily to keep industry (or apartment buildings) out of residential neighborhoods, but to preserve …
Divergence In Land Use Regulations And Property Rights, Christopher Serkin
Divergence In Land Use Regulations And Property Rights, Christopher Serkin
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
For the past century, property rights-and in particular development rights-have been circumscribed and largely defined by comprehensive local land use regulations. As any student of land use knows, zoning across the country shares a common DNA. Despite their local character, zoning limits on development rights in almost every American jurisdiction share a deep family resemblance borne from their common origin in the Standard Zoning Enabling Act ("SZEA"). Zoning for much of the twentieth century therefore converged around a core goal of separating incompatible uses of land as a kind of ex ante nuisance prevention. Of course, zoning went much farther …