ABSTRACT
The equal protection clause requires fair classifications in the text of land use regulations and fair administration. The text of the ordinance raises an equal protection problem because land use regulation is concerned with the impact of a use on its neighborhood, not how it is brought to its site. A zoning ordinance requires special permits for mobile homes in single-family residential districts, defining mobile homes as homes that are manufactured as a unit and transported to their building site. Most state courts hold that a zoning ordinance may not prohibit group homes or nontraditional families in single-family zoning districts. The zoning ordinance authorizes the zoning board of adjustment to grant special permits for group homes for the mentally retarded in a residential district if they are compatible with the residential area. The municipality claims the refusal to rezone was justified because the area surrounding the developer's tract of land is zoned and developed for single-family uses.
