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- Info
Open space zoning: What it is and why it works
| Author: |
Arendt, R. |
| Date: |
1992 |
| Periodical: |
Planning Commissioners Journal |
| Abstract: |
Local officials in most rural and suburbanizing areas have a long-term choice about which many are not fully aware. That is whether to continue implementing "conventional zoning," or whether to refine their existing land-use regulations to ensure the preservation of open space through creative development design. Conventional zoning is essentially a blueprint for development, and development alone. Of course, zoning normally separates incompatible uses, and it does establish certain standards (such as maximum densities and minimum setbacks), but it typically does little to protect open space or to conserve rural character. The reason many subdivisions consist of nothing more than house lots and streets is because zoning and subdivision design standards usually require developers to provide nothing more. While many ordinances contain detailed standards for pavement thickness and culvert diameters, very few set any noteworthy standards for the quantity, quality and configuration of open space to be preserved. Conventional zoning assigns a development designation to every acre of land, generally residential, commercial, or industrial. The only lands which are normally not designated for development are wetlands and floodplains. Conventional zoning has been accurately described as "planned sprawl," because every square foot of each development parcel is converted to front yards, back yards, streets, sidewalks, or driveways. Period. Nothing is left over to become open space, in this land-consumptive process. |
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