Zoning ordinance has outdated public category

Published: October 2, 2024

Visitor Question: Our zoning ordinance has not been updated in decades, long-time residents tell me. The city officials I have asked do not even know the last time there was a major overhaul.

I guess I am OK with that, but I would like to understand why a house next door to me is called Public on the zoning map. It looks like an ordinary house to me, in fact just about the same size and shape as my house. What kinds of uses are allowed in a "public" district? It sounds like it would have to be owned by the government, but it is not. The latest property records I have seen indicate that the owner is a now-defunct nonprofit organization.

Doesn't "public" sound outmoded and old-fashioned as the name of a zoning district? What can I do to get the attention of our city so that they do not zone property as public, except maybe a parcel of real estate that they actually own?

Editors Reply: Your question raises a few general points about land use zoning. First, it is not at all unusual that your zoning ordinance has not been overhauled in decades. It is a major undertaking to do a complete rewrite of a zoning ordinance. It easily can absorb a plan commission for a year or more, followed by major controversy when it reaches the city council level if not before. For this reason and others, most cities end up doing patchwork fixes on the zoning ordinance rather than undertaking a comprehensive revision.

Second, understand that while many zoning ordinances might bear some resemblance to one another, there is no standard zoning ordinance in the United States. When zoning first appeared on the scene, there was a model ordinance, but since then, cities and counties that enact zoning have invented countless variations. This means that when a reader of this website writes in about their zoning ordinance, I cannot tell you the precise details that apply in your own jurisdiction. I can only comment on general practice, which often is accurate because cities tend to copy from one another so much. This leads me to the next point.

Third, you asked what kinds of uses are allowed in a Public zoning district. You will have to determine that by reading parts of your specific zoning ordinance. Many cities now have posted their zoning law online, recognizing that this saves many phone calls that take up employee time. Look on your city's website to see if they have done so or have a link to a site that hosts their ordinance. If not, you must call or visit your city hall. Some cities will be quite accommodating and mail or email you the specific part of your zoning ordinance that is of interest, and others will insist you have to come in and look at the ordinance yourself. Often the public library also will have a copy.

The ordinance may seem long and complicated, but almost always, if you seek out the part of it that describes each zoning district, you will find a list of "permitted" or "allowed" land uses. This may be followed by a list of land uses that are permitted if an additional level of scrutiny is applied; for example, some uses may be permitted if the applicant goes through the process of seeking and being granted a "conditional use" or "special use" permit. Consider carefully both lists, and how each land use might impact your otherwise residential area.

If you are alarmed by what you see, one choice is talking with the successors of this defunct nonprofit that now own the property to see if they will voluntarily seek to rezone it. In most states, the secretary of state's office deals with nonprofit corporations, so you can find there the latest contact information for the nonprofit.

If the corporation has been formally dissolved, you will need to do some digging into how they disposed of property upon dissolution. In many states, when a corporation decides to dissolve, its bylaws prescribe how its property is to be distributed; most often the bylaws say property may be given to any other nonprofit corporation. Try to trace all of this down. If you need help, county offices that deal with land transactions and deeds might possibly be helpful, but usually it is an attorney that can uncover the truth about this.

A second choice, which often is a hard sell, is to convince the city to rezone the property on its own initiative. Some cities are reluctant to undertake any rezoning that is not initiated by the property owner, but if you cannot find a current legitimate owner of the property, you might convince them to do this. It seems like based on the characteristics of the building, the city could make a reasonable case.

Above I said we can offer generalizations about common practice across the U.S., and we will do that in this case. The history of the Public category is that it is often applied to all government-owned buildings, parks, public works storage areas, and so forth, regardless of the level of government that owns the property. But as you are experiencing, often Public also was applied to land owned by churches, synagogues, and nonprofit organizations of all kinds. A church or a Boy Scout camp is not commercial, industrial, or residential, to name the three big categories of zoning district that are common to almost every zoning ordinance. So the Public district, here meaning public-spirited or serving the public, was applied.

Sometimes instead of Public, cities chose to call these land uses Institutional. I also have seen cities that have both Public and Institutional categories on their zoning map.

In sum, rather than dwelling on how old the zoning ordinance is, get busy with discovering what this Public zoning district might mean to you.

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