Chapter 5 Definition of Family

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

Chapter 5 Definition of Family

Another interesting contemporary problem facing zoning planners is limiting the number of persons who might live together in a single-family dwelling. The question is significant because most residential classifications in Illinois make some reference to single-family use. Illinois law provides, in part, as follows:

[T]he corporate authorities in each municipality have the following powers: . . . (9) to classify, to regulate and restrict the use of property on the basis of family relationship, which family relationship may be defined as one or more persons each related to the other by blood, marriage or adoption and maintaining a common household.¹

In the case of City of Des Plaines v. Trottner,² which was decided prior to this statute, the Illinois Supreme Court held the City of Des Plaines Zoning Ordinance invalid insofar as it sought to restrict four single unrelated men from living together in a single-family residence. The Des Plaines Zoning Ordinance defined "family" in terms of persons who were living together and related by blood or marriage. In making its holding, the court stated that it wished to avoid a constitutional issue and therefore held that the Illinois Legislature had not granted to municipalities the power to pass the type of ordinance at issue in that case. The General Assembly at its next session passed the statute authorizing municipalities to define "family" in terms of a blood, marriage, or adoption relationship.

The constitutionality of this definition of family remained unresolved until the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Village of Belle Terre v. Boraas,³ where the Court did, in fact, uphold this type of ordinance. The Village of Belle Terre defined "family" as follows:

[O]ne or more persons related

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