Chapter § 8.4 Types of Zoning Regulations

• Jurisdiction: Washington

§8.4 TYPES OF ZONING REGULATIONS

The various forms of zoning regulation are discussed below.

(1) Area zoning districts and overlays

Traditional zoning laws divide land within a municipality's boundaries into districts, each of which is assigned a range of permissible uses and development standards. This districting approach is commonly referred to as "Euclidian" zoning, a reference to the landmark United States Supreme Court decision that generally affirms the constitutionality of zoning laws that are not "clearly arbitrary and unreasonable, having no substantial relation to the public health, safety, morals, or general welfare." Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., 272 U.S. 365, 395, 47 S. Ct. 114, 118, 71 L. Ed. 303 (1926). Euclidian zoning typically has two components: (1) zoning maps that classify areas within the jurisdiction's boundaries by zoning category and (2) regulations that prescribe use, bulk, and density limitations applicable within the mapped zoning categories.

The purpose of district-based zoning is to maintain an orderly grouping of compatible uses. City of Edmonds v. Oxford House, Inc., 514 U.S. 725, 732, 115 S. Ct. 1776, 1781, 131 L. Ed. 2d 801(1995) (aim of land use regulations to prevent problems caused by the "pig in the parlor instead of the barnyard."). Designated zoning categories commonly include residential zones, rural zones, commercial zones, industrial zones, institutional zones, and resource zones for mineral, forestry, or agricultural activities. These classifications are often further refined to specify a particular intensity of use allowable within the particular zone. For example, residential zones may be classified into single-family and multifamily categories, at times with further height and density subclassifications. Similarly, commercial zones may be subclassified by intensity into small scale neighborhood or more intense regional commercial or office designations.

District-based zoning has the virtue of certainty and the disadvantage of rigidity. Lutz v. City of Longview, 83 Wn.2d 566, 568, 520 P.2d 1374(1974). Although the upfront definition of which uses are and are not allowed fosters predictability, the prescription of uses is often criticized as stymieing efforts to create more natural and vibrant forms of mixed-use development and exacerbating sprawl. A variety of zoning devices have accordingly evolved to afford greater flexibility and practicality in the regulation of land uses. These more recent zoning devices commonly determine whether particular uses are allowed based upon a site-specific evaluation of the context in which development is proposed. Examples are discussed in §8.4(2), below.

Jurisdictions commonly augment their general zoning classifications with more detailed, property-specific, zoning overlay designations. Typically, such overlay designations take into account special features of a parcel or sub area that render it difficult to accommodate uses ordinarily allowed by the general zoning classification. Growth Management Act critical area regulations that limit development in or adjacent to wetlands, fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas, flood hazard areas, geologic hazard areas, and aquifer recharge areas are examples of overlay zones found in all jurisdictions. Other types of overlay designations may similarly impose density or use limitations that are more or less restrictive than otherwise allowed within the applicable zone to account for unique infrastructure concerns or plan-related goals. For example, properties in the vicinity of an airport are commonly subject to particularized overlays limiting...