Zoning Laws

Close-up of colorful zoning map of unidentified city.

How a National Zoning Atlas Can Clarify a Legal Patchwork

A massive effort is underway to compile local zoning regulations and other laws that impact how and where housing is built.

February 1, 2024 - Bloomberg CityLab

Aerial view of Bend, Oregon with river and old mill district

Examining Oregon’s Unique Land Use Laws

Since the 1970s, the state has taken a comprehensive approach to development, regulating land use and urban growth at the state level.

June 13, 2023 - Bend Source

Townhouses

Gentrification Architecture—It’s Baffling

Critics say the design of homes that come with gentrification is too often uninspired, incompatible, and downright ugly.

March 16, 2020 - The Texas Observer

Lawns and Suburban Homes

Opinion: It’s Time Zoning Laws Reflected the Real World

Current zoning restrictions hearken back to an America that long longer exists. It’s time to update codes and stop perpetuating housing segregation and inequality.

August 9, 2019 - The New York Times

Robert Moses

The Robert Moses Nexus to Amazon's Cancellation of Queens HQ2

Last week, Amazon abruptly canceled its decision to invest about $2.5 billion and bring 25,000 high-paying jobs to Queens. A scholar blames their abrupt decision on an arcane state bureaucracy tasked with preventing Robert Moses-like takings.

February 21, 2019 - Politico Magazine

San Francisco

California as a Model for Housing Legislation

The Golden State may have the nation's most severe housing crisis, but there is one area of state housing policy where it shines, becoming a model for other states that want to advance accessory dwelling units, also called granny or in-law units.

May 7, 2018 - Next City

New California Housing Laws Not Well Received Locally

City council members of Burlingame, a small, affluent suburb south of San Francisco, are not happy with new laws that take away their discretion to reject developments that fail to meet "neighborhood character" criteria, but meet zoning requirements.

December 8, 2017 - The Daily Journal

Golden Gate

Putting Teeth into the California Housing Accountability Act

A 35-year-old law is not living up to its moniker, the 'anti-NIMBY law'. A bill co-sponsored by a group associated with the YIMBY movement would fine cities $10,000 per housing unit if they fail to comply with the law.

August 22, 2017 - The Mercury News

Boulder Colorado

Zoning as a Tool of Social and Economic Inequality

The New York Times devotes significant ink to an argument against the use of zoning laws as tools of anti-growth politics.

July 6, 2016 - The New York Times

Washington D.C. Row Houses

Photos: Why So Many Former Stores Are Now Homes in Washington, D.C.

If some residences look a little out of place in Washington, D.C., it may be because they were originally retail shops. A Tumblr is devoted to these homes, and the zoning laws that created them.

May 23, 2016 - CityLab

Flooding in Howard Beach

New NYC Zoning Rules Will Help Residents Build Against Floods

New municipal zoning laws don’t necessarily make for the most compelling reading material, but a new set of New York City regulations are worth paying attention to.

January 6, 2014 - Next City

Energy Fuels Growth in Zoning-Free Houston

The oil and gas companies clustered south of the central business district and in the Woodlands account for 3.4 percent of the city's employment, but the concentrated energy sector helps spread the wealth to other sectors in zoning-free Houston.

December 7, 2012 - The New York Times

Fracking Ruling May Result In More Local Bans

In what may turn out to be a landmark ruling, the right of Dryden, a New York township adjacent to Cornell University to use its zoning code to ban the controversial drilling technique known fracking was upheld by the N.Y. State Supreme Court.

February 23, 2012 - Pro Publica

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