ABSTRACT
Due process and equal protection offer fundamental protections to private property owners ensuring that planning occurs in an open and transparent process and that they are treated fairly in decision-making. The purpose of the equal protection clause is to prevent differential treatment of people or, in the alternative, to guarantee that the disparate treatment of people is justified. It is important, for the purposes of land use law, to note that the equal protection clause applies to people rather than properties. In the context of city planning and land use regulation substantive due process guarantees that the substance of the law will be applied fairly across all landowners. In terms of land use, the due process clause means "that land use controls must advance legitimate governmental interests that serve the public health, safety, morals, and general welfare". Land use regulations may not be applied in a fashion which is arbitrary and capricious no matter what procedural protections apply.
