Zoning and Historic Preservation: Where to Start

Map amendments, variances, non-conformities, conditional uses, overlays, density, setbacks, infill, rezoning, downzoning, transfers of development rights. These are some of the terms with which one is faced when attempting to understand zoning and how a city government uses it to control land use. All of this seemingly byzantine terminology can be bewildering, even intimidating, to ordinary citizens who are concerned about their community and trying to keep an eye on what their representatives are doing.

When historic preservation is at stake, zoning issues take on extra importance.

Historic properties…, like other land uses, are subject to zoning regulations. When properly applied, zoning can be a powerful tool in protecting historic properties. It is important, therefore, that preservationists become knowledgeable about the zoning in their communities in order to determine how it affects historic resources and how it might better protect historic properties.

That is a quote from a concise and well-written primer titled Zoning and Historic Preservation, written by Stephen A. Morris in 1989, when he worked as a preservation planner at the National Parks Service. We highly recommend that everyone with an interest in these issues give it a read.