Zoning laws are implemented by a city or county’s Planning Department. The Department is responsible for balancing public welfare with the rights of individual property owners. It must constantly reevaluate land use as a city’s population grows and conditions change.
Downzoning alters an area’s land use to be less dense and/or developed. More simply, it “downsizes” an area.
For example, a city may rezone an area with large apartment buildings in order to rebuild the area with smaller single-family homes and businesses. One reason might be to minimize growth of a city.
Goals of Downzoning
Down zoning rezones a property to permit the location or city to use the property for a purpose that is less dense than what it was previously zoned for. The purpose of it is to prevent the overgrowth of a specific area or region and to manage the amount of people that make up a given area.
While the goals of downzoning are mainly to manage how many people live and work in a certain location, downzoning also aims to reduce traffic by redirecting people to different areas. It also alters the use of land, thereby eliminating certain types of properties which means downzoning affects the look and feel of a specific area.
Downzoning Examples
The goal of each city is different, and the current makeup of cities vary. What is true all the time is that downzoning reduces the amount of people in a geographical location. For example, imagine an area is filled with shopping malls and retail stores, downzoning in this scenario might alter the zoning from retail space to residential space for single family homes. Clearly this would drastically reduce the amount of people that visit a certain area.
How Downzoning Alters Existing Property Owners
Property owners that currently own property prior to a downzoning change will likely not have to change their property. Previous buildings already in use before the downzoning change are “grandfathered.” This means the land can continue to be used in the manner it was used prior. There are certain scenarios where downzoning changes require even old buildings to be adjusted.
Rezoning means changing zoning policy.
Upzoning refers to when a city changes zoning laws in order to develop higher value and/or more dense land use. For example, upzoning may change an area from industrial use to residential.
How Zoning Laws Get Changed
Alterations to existing zoning laws must be disputed in public hearings so as to provide the public — including property owners, tenants, and businesses — with an opportunity to express their views. A court has the ability to override a Planning Department’s zoning laws if they are deemed overly burdensome to the public. However, a property owner can only bring legal suit after he or she has attempted to change a zoning law through public hearings and other methods of appeal.
There has never been a successful prosecution in the State of California for zoning-related damages. Federal courts generally disagree with the state regarding compensation, however. Therefore, a plaintiff has a better chance of being awarded zoning-related damages in cases that are brought to the federal level.
