{"id":11705,"date":"2015-09-10T21:20:17","date_gmt":"2015-09-11T01:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/?p=11705"},"modified":"2016-03-02T11:24:17","modified_gmt":"2016-03-02T16:24:17","slug":"filling-in-zoning-part-1-introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/2015\/09\/filling-in-zoning-part-1-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Filling In: Zoning Part 1, Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Current<\/a>
\nBy Matthew Denker<\/a><\/i><\/small><\/p>\n

Well readers, this is it. The series of articles you\u2019ve been waiting for your entire life without even knowing it. That\u2019s right, we\u2019re going to talk about zoning, and more specifically, zoning in Rochester. I\u2019ve been known to refer to zoning as the last bastion for the wicked, and over the next few weeks, I look forward to pleading my case.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

History<\/h3>\n

\"Equitable<\/a>
\nThe earliest regulations of land use involved the passage of nuisance laws. Simply put, if you didn\u2019t like what your neighbor did with their land, you could sue them. Then it would be in a judge\u2019s hands and well, good luck. The first regulations that still exist in modern zoning were height limitations. In 1885, New York City passed a law limiting tenements height to 1.5x the width of the street they were built on. Height restrictions were ruled legal in 1909 by the Supreme Court and DC passed its most famous of height limits \"external<\/a> the following year. <\/p>\n

Then in 1915, the Equitable Building \"external<\/a> in New York City was built, and everything changed. New construction methods allowed the 538 foot tall building to rise directly from the street to its roof. The building cast 7 acres of shadow, and New Yorkers were terrified the city would turn into a dimly lit dungeon. This led directly to the first comprehensive zoning code in 1916. It should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever attempted to read a zoning code that it was a lawyer, Edward Bassett \"external<\/a>, who was the \u201cfather of American zoning.\u201d In case you\u2019re curious, this first zoning code \"external<\/a> yielded the rather famous wedding cake design so prevalent in early NYC skyscrapers.<\/p>\n

Closer to home, Rochester was surprisingly current with its adoption of a zoning code barely 3 years later in 1919. <\/p>\n

Zoning was finally upheld as a legitimate use of government authority to regulate private property in 1926 by the Supreme Court in the landmark case Village of Euclid (Ohio) v. Ambler Realty Co. \"external<\/a> We have this case to thank for the term Euclidean zoning (use-based zoning). At this point, it was off to the races for zoning in the US, and it\u2019s everywhere (even if Houston doesn\u2019t have something formally referred to as \u2018zoning\u2019).<\/p>\n

Zoning in Rochester<\/h3>\n

\"Current<\/a>
\nRochester\u2019s first zoning code was adopted in 1919, and it separated the city into the following 6 districts:<\/p>\n