Chapter 1 Zoning: Historical Perspective

• Library: The Zoning and Land Use Handbook (ABA) (2016 Ed.)

Chapter 1 Zoning: Historical Perspective

The exact beginning of zoning laws in the United States is not known. Much of current states' zoning legislation is based on the law called A Standard State Zoning Enabling Act,¹ which was drafted by the U.S. Department of Commerce in the mid-1920s and which ultimately became the Standard Planning Act.²

Zoning roots are easier to trace in Europe. Zoning appeared in Europe as early as 1853 when Napoleon III appointed George C. Hausmann as prefect of the Seine River District and Hausmann began the task of laying out the modern Parisian boulevards of today. Zoning existed in Germany as early as 1884. As early as 1790, Congress had directed President George Washington to approve a plan for the capital.³

The first United States Supreme Court test of zoning laws came in 1926 in the case of Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co.⁴ A writ was brought by the Amber Realty Company against the Village of Euclid, Ohio, to enjoin the enforcement of the village zoning ordinance. The Court upheld the right of the Village to zone as residential a strip of land along a railroad right-of-way that had been purchased for industrial development. In upholding the ordinance...