What Is Zoning? Bankrate Caret RightMain Menu Mortgage Mortgages Financing a home purchase Refinancing your existing loan Finding the right lender Additional Resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Bank Banking Compare Accounts Use calculators Get advice Bank reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Credit Card Credit cards Compare by category Compare by credit needed Compare by issuer Get advice Looking for the perfect credit card? Narrow your search with CardMatch Caret RightMain Menu Loan Loans Personal Loans Student Loans Auto Loans Loan calculators Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Invest Investing Best of Brokerages and robo-advisors Learn the basics Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Home Equity Home equity Get the best rates Lender reviews Use calculators Knowledge base Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Loan Home Improvement Real estate Selling a home Buying a home Finding the right agent Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Insurance Insurance Car insurance Homeowners insurance Other insurance Company reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Retirement Retirement Retirement plans & accounts Learn the basics Retirement calculators Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Advertiser Disclosure
Advertiser Disclosure
We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence.
Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover. How We Make Money
The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you. SHARE: On This Page
Ranimiro Lotufo Neto/Getty Images August 15, 2022 Emma Woodward is a former contributor for Bankrate and a freelance writer who loves writing to demystify personal finance topics. She has written for companies and publications like Finch, Toast, JBD Clothiers and The Financial Diet. Troy Segal is Bankrate's Senior Homeownership Editor, focusing on everything from upkeep and maintenance to building equity and enhancing value. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation for how we make money. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
Founded in 1976, Bankrate has a long track record of helping people make smart financial choices. We’ve maintained this reputation for over four decades by demystifying the financial decision-making process and giving people confidence in which actions to take next. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. All of our content is authored by and edited by , who ensure everything we publish is objective, accurate and trustworthy. Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest financial decisions an individual will ever make. Our real estate reporters and editors focus on educating consumers about this life-changing transaction and how to navigate the complex and ever-changing housing market. From finding an agent to closing and beyond, our goal is to help you feel confident that you're making the best, and smartest, real estate deal possible. Bankrate logo Editorial integrity
Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers. Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information. Bankrate logo How we make money
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service. , you often envision what you’ll do to it…additions, renovations and projects within and around it. But caveat emptor: Zoning ordinances can often make those big dreams come tumbling down. Zoning laws are the rules that regulate what you can and can’t do with a property. Anything from the height of your house to the establishment of a home business may be affected by zoning. If a property isn’t zoned for the construction or enterprise you want to do, it can be difficult to get an exception.
What is zoning
“Zoning is what various communities use to determine what you can and cannot build or change in a given area. Each community, city, neighborhood and town has their own laws. It’s important to be educated on these zoning laws if you plan to make any changes to the exterior of your home,” says Beatrice De Jong, broker and Consumer Trends Expert at Opendoor, an Zoning ordinances are designed by local governments (normally a municipality or county) to protect a community and allow a town, city, or neighborhood to keep functioning to its best capacity. “Whether it be for homeowners or business owners, zoning laws help keep the integrity of a community intact. For example, people who live in rural areas might grow produce on their property, but if they turn that hobby into a business, it could impact the community around them from foot/car traffic, parking, and other inconveniences,” adds De Jong.
Types of zoning laws
Zoning laws typically come in a few different varieties. Some local regions and cities have very specific and particular zoning laws for each neighborhood. Other zoning laws can be broad and apply to an entire city. These are the most common types of zoning laws: Residential: Includes , suburban homesteads, apartments, condos, and trailer parks. Residential zoning typically limits the number of structures and families allowed on a property and which types of animals can live there; it can also affect home-based businesses. Commercial: Includes several categories of structures: office buildings, warehouses, nightclubs, shopping centers, hotels and some apartment complexes. The amount of parking available can play into which type of commercial zoning is allowed. Industrial: Environmental factors, like noise concern, can impact industrial zoning, which can be specific to the type of business. Some examples of businesses that have industrial zoning are manufacturing centers and storage facilities. Agricultural: Maintains economic viability for agricultural regions. In agricultural zoning, lot sizes may be much larger to limit too much density in development. Rural: Typically applied to farms and ranches. Rural zoning may be applied to allow horses and cattle in residential areas. Aesthetic: Regulates how a community looks, from color scheme to landscaping to external fixtures like . Building plans may need to be submitted to architectural review committees in a community with aesthetic zoning. Permitted and accessory uses: Allow for built-in exceptions to some zoning laws. For example, allowing a bar in a hotel that is in an area not zoned for bars. Combination: This type of zoning allows for mixed-use areas. In a combination zoning area, residential properties may co-exist with commercial ones, for example. Historic: Meant to maintain the architecture and appearance of a historic area and residences (typically 50 years or older). “Many people love the look and feel of historical homes but many of them come with zoning laws around maintaining their historical integrity. There are some with a historical zoning law that can even dictate the color you paint your home,” says De Jong. Form-based vs use-based zoning
The two main approaches to zoning are form-based zoning and use-based zoning. Use-based zoning, aka traditional zoning, focuses on zoning for a specific purpose or operation. For example, an area might be zoned for commercial or residential or industrial use. If properties can only be exclusively used in this way, it’s called single-use zoning. If an area permits several types of properties, it’s called mixed-use zoning. Form-based zoning focuses more on appearance of the area and how a zone fits with adjacent areas — not how the land and properties are used, but the form that they take. For example, a community may mandate that all buildings within it be no more than a single story, or set back from the sidewalk a certain distance — regardless of whether they are stores, homes or offices. Mixed-use zoning is often used with this approach.
History of zoning
Zoning laws or codes haven’t always been around. In fact, they’re a relatively recent form of urban planning. Prior to zoning codes, most cities regulated building through nuisance laws. If an individual did not like the way a neighbor used the property, they would take their neighbor to court, and a judge would decide the issue. By the late 19th century, that process had become cumbersome, especially given the growth of large cities like New York City and Chicago. Court cases clogged the system. Rather than react to problems that already existed, cities decided to write zoning laws to pre-empt legal challenges, designating different standards for different areas. Before construction took place, builders understood what they could or couldn’t do, and that these zoning codes would be enforced. Developers brainstormed ways to preserve property values and the quality of life for city residents. For example, that factories and warehouses could not encroach upon shopping districts, or that buildings could not be built so tall that they blocked the sun for all neighboring buildings. Zoning codes
While they began with cities, zoning laws now apply to all types of urban, suburban, exurban and rural communities. Typically, a local government divides its jurisdictions into zones and classifies the zones by their use or form. It usually employs letters of the alphabet as codes to identify the use allowed in a physical geographic area or community — such as: C for commercial R for residential I for industrial These symbols are usually paired with a number. For example, an R-1 residential zone may allow only single-family homes and not . A C-1 commercial zone might allow commercial and industrial buildings. While the coding system is similar, zoning categories and symbols vary among municipalities. A C-1 zone in one city is not necessarily the same as a C-1 in another. Nowadays, we have a large variety of different zoning laws. Each city and region has a different approach, but they are all focused on preserving the life of a community in some way. Zoning critiques and controversy
Zoning laws are meant to preserve order, safety and attractiveness in a community and to minimize disputes between landowners. For example, zoning is what prevents a hospital from opening up next to a city dump or a beet farm from running through the middle of downtown. It stops high-rises from blocking the sun on a residential street, or a noisy sports bar operating next to an elementary school. That all sounds great, right? But zoning can be controversial too. Zoning laws put in place a long time ago can stand in the way of future development that may be helpful to a community. Codes that restrict areas to single-family residences could contribute to housing shortages, especially affordable housing (the controversy over is one example of this issue). Or, laws that confine commercial enterprises to a certain area promote a dependency on automobiles. And in the past, certain zoning ordinances, like the infamous redlining of the post-World War II period, effectively created and widened the disparity of property values and quality of life among racial and socioeconomic groups.
What is a zoning variance
It may be frustrating to buy a home you plan to add a room to or , only to find out the zoning doesn’t allow for this. However, discovering that a zoning code stands in the way of your dream renovation doesn’t have to be the end of the road. It is possible to apply for an exception, called a . “A zoning variance is when you go to the local authority to ask for special permission to do something outside of the set ordinance. I.e. if you want to paint your house blue but the local rules don’t allow for that, you need to apply for a variance,” says De Jong. Final word on zoning
Buyers should be aware of the zoning codes that apply to any home they’re considering: It’s important to understand the implications for any plans for a property you purchase. Often, the is armed with the information, as homeowners are obligated to and be forthcoming about revealing any restrictions. If not, ask your own to do some research. You don’t want your dream home ideas getting derailed, either now or down the road. SHARE: Emma Woodward is a former contributor for Bankrate and a freelance writer who loves writing to demystify personal finance topics. She has written for companies and publications like Finch, Toast, JBD Clothiers and The Financial Diet. Troy Segal is Bankrate's Senior Homeownership Editor, focusing on everything from upkeep and maintenance to building equity and enhancing value. Related Articles