Zoning Regulations
Examples & Resources
You can stop superstore sprawl with one sentence. Just amend your zoning code to place a limit on the size of buildings. The easy part is writing the ordinance; the harder part is getting enough political support to pass it.
Your zoning ordinance is the best weapon you have to stop Wal-Mart. In many states, citizens can introduce zoning code amendments. In Massachusetts, for example, the state’s zoning enabling act allows any 10 registered voters in a city or town to introduce an amendment to their local zoning code. However, getting an amendment passed by the local officials may require a two-thirds affirmative vote.
When Wal-Mart comes to town, they have no hesitation to ask for a rezoning. Local community groups should not hesitate to do the same. Any large parcel of land over 15 acres that is currently undeveloped is a potential Wal-Mart site. Citizens groups can seek to rezone large tracts of land to industrial or residential, or can have restrictions placed on size. Sometimes Wal-Mart will buy up seven or eight smaller pieces of land to knit them into a larger, single parcel for development.
This section contains a series of sample "best practices" zoning ordinances that can make it difficult or impossible for big box stores. Use these examples to start from, but write your own language to fit into your local code. Working with a supportive Town Councilor, or a land use attorney, you can draft your own zoning bylaw changes to suit your local needs.
Abutting Towns
Every Wal-Mart built today is a regional store. If only one town could shop there, the store would fold within a year. Abutting town agreements require cities to allow adjacent communities to review development plans.
Adaptive Reuse / Abandonment
Although Wal-Mart says very few of its stores have failed, many are unprofitable, and dozens of others are simply shut down to make way for larger supercenters with wider aisles. This makes Wal-Mart the largest producer of empty retail stores in America, if not the world. Adaptive reuse/abandonment agreements require companies to reuse their abandoned buildings or pay for their removal.
Big Box Ordinances
Zoning ordinances can limit the size of retail establishments, or require big box stores to be subject to a lengthy community impact analysis. To prevent a city from subsidizing the cost of building a Wal-Mart, some big box ordinances require developers to pay for traffic and water plans and engineers.
Design Standards
Master plans and design guidelines maintain the integrity of local communities. These ordinances can decide the architectural style, landscaping, traffic, outdoor sales, lighting, etc. of a Wal-Mart in your town.
Environmental Protection
Ordinances can restrict a town from doing business with companies that have a history of violating environmental laws. Likewise, ordinances can restrict the amount of commercial land in a community.
Hours of Operation
Wal-Mart likes its supercenters to be open 24 hours a day. The most direct way to limit Wal-Mart’s hours is to specify hours of operation in your zoning code. A more open-ended approach is to allow the community to make such uses possible on a special permit only basis.
Impact Fees
Some states allows local communities to assess impact fees on new development to help pay for town services or improvements to infrastructure. The term “impact fee” is defined as “a fee or assessment imposed upon development, including subdivision, building construction or other land use change, in order to help meet the needs occasioned by that development for the construction or improvement of capital facilities owned or operated by the municipality.”
Impact Studies, Independent
Every zoning code should have a section called “Impact Studies, Independent” which requires any project involving 5 acres or more, or generating more than 1,000 car trips a day to prepare independent impact reports on: traffic, stormwater management, economic impact, etc. “Independent” means the cost of said studies will be borne by the applicant, but the city or town will have the right to select a contractor of their own choosing who has not had a contract with the developer for the past five years.
Impervious Surface Limits
The parking area of a Wal-Mart can be two or three times larger than the store itself. One very straightforward way to limit big box stores, besides putting a cap on the size of retail buildings, is to limit the total amount of impervious surface (pavement) in any given commercial zone.
Light Control
Lighting zoning regulations provide the power to limit the harsh effects of big box light pollution on residential neighborhoods. Although they may not stop a big box development outright, they let developers know that your community values its residents’ right to night sanctuary.
Major Development Review
Like a community impact report, major development reviews require the analysis and approval of “Major Developments” which have the potential for significant impact to the environment, abutting properties, Town services, traffic patterns, the economy of the Town, the character of the Town, or the public health, safety, and welfare of Town residents.
Moratoriums
One of the less threatening proposals to deal with Wal-Mart is the moratorium. Most states allow local communities to pass a moratorium, usually by vote of the city or town council, which suspends the processing of any commercial projects for a time-specific period, usually at least six months, and not exceeding a year. Moratoriums need to state the purposes of the moratorium (to encourage orderly growth; to ensure that all developments are compatible with the town’s Comprehensive Plan; to update the town’s zoning code to deal with large scale projects, etc.).
Neighborhood Commercial Zones
Intended to protect the “unique character” of a town, zoning ordinances can limit the size and location of big box stores. Neighborhood commercial zones also frequently regulate the design standards of new development projects.
Noise Control
One common complaint in Wal-Mart cases is the impact of noise on surrounding properties. Many zoning codes have general, vague language about noise as a nuisance., leaving it open to interpretation what “unreasonably” loud really means. Other localities have more precise levels that measure the sound, to create a threshold over which noised becomes unallowable. Although noise ordinances in and of themselves will not stop a Wal-Mart, this is one more hoop for the company to jump through.
Rezoning, Criteria For
Some zoning codes have a section called “Rezoning, Criteria for Approval.” If your zoning code does not have such a section, you can write one. Rezoning criteria should require the rezoning be compatible with surrounding uses, not have an adverse impact on the value of nearby properties, be consistent with the Comp Plan, etc.
Site Plan Review, Criteria For
In addition to rezonings and special use, or conditional use, permits--which can be denied by a community, Wal-Mart can also run into problems during the process called a “site plan review.” Even if the land in question is already zoned commercially, or requires no special permit, the project will still need to get a site plan approval--or disapproval. If the criteria for site plan approval are strong, Planning or Zoning boards can rule that site plans as submitted are not appropriate, and need to be changed or denied.
Size Caps
Size caps are one of the most straightforward ways to stop a Wal-Mart. Limiting the size of buildings is a common, legal way to impose a restriction on large scale development.
Special Use Permits
Every zoning code should have a zoning code section called “Special Permit Criteria” to give Planning and Zoning boards rules to follow when decided on whether or not to approve of a use that is not ordinariliy a permitted use in a district. No zoning code should allow a Wal-Mart in without obtaining a Special Permit. Special permits often require public hearings, and generally give citizens an opportunity to present ‘findings’ about why a Wal-Mart does not meet the special criteria, and opens up the chance to appeal to the courts if a local Planning Board or City Council grants a special permit.
