Zoning Variances: Unnecessarily an Evil

Abstract

To the dismay of some landowners and planners, zoning can render land useless. In response, the founders of zoning created variances, often described as zoning's “safety valve.”¹ Variances are designed to relax strict application of a zoning ordinance to avoid zoning a particular parcel of land into inutility. See R. Anderson, 3 American Law of Zoning § 20.02 (3d ed. 1986). If strict application of the ordinance renders the property useless, then that result is tantamount to confiscation, for which the property owner is entitled to compensation.² Drafters of early zoning ordinances were concerned about their constitutionality and that of the statutes under which they were enacted in the absence of a fail-safe provision. Variances avoid the constitutional issue by allowing a property owner to use or build on his land in a way otherwise prohibited by the terms of the ordinance.