How do you make the plan work? There are a wide variety of tools including zoning.

 WHAT IS RURAL ZONING

Very simply, zoning is a locally enacted law that regulates and controls private property. Zoning involves dividing the countryside into districts or zones for agricultural, residential, commercial, and industrial purposes. The zoning law then states which specific uses are permitted in each district and under what circumstances. Zoning also regulates the size of lots, distances buildings must be set back from road or property lines, and maximum height of buildings.

PURPOSE OF ZONING

A major purpose of zoning is to put land to the use for which it is best suited. We determine the best use for land through the planning process. Some land is best left

to be cultivated because of unique soil characteristics. Other land may be ideally suited for commercial development because it is located near a major highway. Other land, located near a railroad or airport, for example, may be prime land for an industrial park. Another parcel of land located in a flood plain should be left for agriculture or other open uses that will not interfere with the natural process of an eventual flood.

MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT ZONING

Because zoning is complex, there are many misconceptions about it. Some of the typical misunderstandings may be revealed in statements like:

"If we have zoning, you'll have to get a permit if you want to build a barn or corn crib."
Not so -- Missouri Rivised Statutes, 1994, specifically state that the use of land or buildings for agricultural purposes, im most instances, is not affected by zoning.

"So they think they'll put zoning in the township, do they?"   "Pass it and they'll find out it's unconstitutional."
Not so . . . the courts have upheld zoning since 1926.

"We need to zone this township so that it will always remain as it is for our children and grandchildren."
In the first place, a zoning ordinance isn't intended to be perpetual. It establishes land-use districts and provides for a systematic method of making changes as the community grows older. Such rezoning takes place after a public hearing. This provides flexibility. We live in a time of change. Zoning may make land-use changes more gradual and systematic.

"I won't be able to build my own house if our township has rural zoning."
Not so -- You will have to have a building plan that meets the minimum requirements of the zoning resolution. The resolution specifies the minimum number of square feet of living space in the house, height of the building, minimum size of the lot, and distance the house must be set back from the road.

"Zoning is O.K. for a changing community, but this one won't change. We trust our neighbors. They aren't going to sell their land. Everyone around here wants to stay here and keep the neighborhood like it is."
This statement was made in the spring of 1962 in a community 8 miles from a city of 100,000 people and almost on the shoreline of a man-made lake. Four years later several large subdivisions were crowding the edge of the same community. Changes will come -- populations change, people move and die.

Land goes up in price and resistance to selling goes down. One characteristic of most American communities, rural and urban, is the mobile population.

Mobility increases with proximity to a growing town.

"It's my land and I don't want anyone to tell me what I can do with it."
This is probably the most frequently heard objection to rural zoning as might be expected. Many Americans feel this way and there is no easy answer, but we must respect their feelings. However, what are the alternatives if something like this develops in a rural area? A neighbor decides to sell part of his farm for a drag racing strip. There is no township rural zoning. You don't want the noise.

Without zoning you have one of three choices: outbid the drag strip people and buy the land yourself, learn to live with the noise, or sell your farm. This example could easily be a factory, junkyard, restaurant, cycle park, etc. These are all legitimate uses of land which we need to provide for, but they should be separated from incompatible uses like residential areas.