ABSTRACT
The original mission of zoning was to preserve the sanctity of family living areas, separating them from the obnoxious and sometimes harmful character and by-products of commercial and industrial enterprise. Zoning, however, regardless of its packaging, is not planning, a point reinforced by A. Solnit and others: Zoning is only part of the process called “planning.” It is clear that zoning was expected to be subordinate to a comprehensive master plan facilitating the implementation of the plan’s provisions, instead of usurping its authority and jurisdiction as is practiced. In those communities where land use is currently being dictated by zoning ordinances masquerading as comprehensive planning, local land planners and the governing body need to reinstitute legitimate comprehensive planning before inaugurating a program of ecologically based municipal land use. All the considerations are to be decided up front by the community as a whole, and to become an integral part of the comprehensive master plan.
