Law Commons^™

Comprehensive Land Use Planning: Learning How And Where To Grow, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article explores the origins, evolution and contemporary workings of the legal system that determines the use of land. In Part II, the development of zoning and comprehensive planning laws in the United States is traced, emphasizing the importance that zoning be “in conformance with” a comprehensive land use plan, a requirement meant to provide direction and purpose to land use regulation. This retrospect shows that, from the beginning, the framers of the nation's land use regime were indecisive. They failed to define a comprehensive plan, to detail what such a plan should contain, and to prescribe how planning should …