Local Zoning

Paper Summary:

This paper argues that local municipalities are in the best position to judge where zoning divisions should occur and when and if any exceptions to such zoning regulations should be made. The author points out that the most characteristic channels for airing contentions are public hearings and systematic consultations, with everyone involved in a particular decision having the opportunity to have their opinions heard and their interests understood. The paper relates that the concept of local zoning began on July 25, 1916, when the New York City Board of Estimate and Apportionment approved an ordinance to control building volumes and land uses throughout greater New York.

From the Paper:

"Speaking in front of the Commission on Building Districts and Restrictions, President of the Department of Taxes and Assessments, Lawson Purdy, stressed the economic character of the problem facing them at the time: "Tenement houses, more euphoniously called apartment houses, built to the full limit allowed by law, have intruded into a territory beautifully developed with single family dwellings at great cost, well constructed, in condition to last for a hundred year, and have destroyed their value in large measure" By and large, the Commission's Final Report advanced the notion of the protection of the home as a primary goal of the proposed regulations."

More papers on Local Zoning:

• Term Paper # 110353 : "Local Land Use in Little Rock"
• Term Paper # 139751 : "Zoning and Historic Preservation"
• Analytical Essay # 64295 : "Exports and Local Development: Mexico's New Maquiladoras"

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