For most people, there are few things more yawn-inducing than a discussion of zoning ordinances. Even the simplest of them are still pretty dense, filled with detailed descriptions of allowable land uses for every part of the jurisdiction they cover.

But the writing of a zoning code is actually among the most important decisions a city, village or township government will ever make.

When a site plan goes before a planning commission for approval, it’s not unusual to hear comments like this from neighbors:

“We already have a Dollar General — why do we need another one?”

“Do we really need that many new houses in our township? Who’s going to buy them?”

But that question is beyond any planning commission’s authority. They don’t have the authority to decide whether the neighborhood needs another dollar store, any more than they have the authority to tell you whether you need to plant a vegetable garden. All they can do is look at what a property owner wants to do and evaluate whether or not it complies with the law.

Is the property zoned commercial? Then somebody can build a commercial business there. There might be specific requirements they have to meet — they may need to demonstrate that their driveways are adequate, that they will have enough parking spaces, that the building won’t be too tall or will be a certain number of feet away from the neighbor’s property line — but as long as they meet the requirements of the law, they’re allowed to build. And that decision was made back when the zoning code was adopted and the parcel in question was designated for commercial development.

So when you see that your local government is going to consider changes to its zoning ordinance … pay attention.

Zoning is what determines if there could one day be a commercial development a few houses down the road from you. 

Conversely, it also determines how you will be allowed to use your own property. Local governments can loosen or tighten zoning restrictions depending on what type of development they want to encourage — or even freeze out.

An example of loosening is that the city of Adrian is considering making it easier to build accessory dwelling units on residential parcels, in an effort to ease the current housing crunch.

An example of tightening is the townships that have tried to pile so many restrictions onto wind and solar installations that renewable energy projects have been effectively banned in those areas.

Many of the decisions that are most important to our communties are made long before any specific project makes it to a site plan review.

The time to pay attention to zoning is now.