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Planner's Notebook Making Zoning Districts More Effective Woligang G. Roeseler and Bruce W. McClendon Zoning has been an American institution since 1916. The heart of the American zoning system is the list of permitted uses for each zoning district. We suggest that communities should update and simplify their zoning ordinances so that they advance the objectives of local comprehensive plans more effectively. We also suggest several ways of revising zoning ordinances tm that they are easier to apply, interpret, and understand. In its simplest form, zoning divides a community into districts or zones. For each zone there is a list of land uses that may be established and maintained there, subject to controls on lot size, setback, building height, and other development characteristics. Uses not in- cluded in the list are not permitted in the zone. The list of permitted uses and the various development stan- dards vary among districts within a community. Most communities find it necessary from time to time to revise the original lists of permitted uses so that they reflect the prevailing community perceptions of compatibility among various uses. In this article we argue for close ties between land use plans and zoning ordinances that translate those plans into specific land uses in established districts. We also delineate the benefits inherent in permitting some uses conditionally (on a case-by-case basis) to ensure their compatibility with other uses in a district. We urge that cumulative, or pyramid, zoning be abandoned in favor of express-purpose zoning, because the latter rep- resents a better link between planning and zoning. Fur- ther, we believe many communities could benefit by simplifying and updating their zoning ordinances, and we enumerate several ways of doing that. Tying zoning to land use plans through zoning districts In a comprehensive plan, land is allocated to various major types of land uses based on the functional rela- tionships among urban activities. The plan delineates broad categories of uses. A zoning ordinance using the plan as an organizing concept arranges specific land uses in groups and seeks to define those groups as pre- Wlt, rr~R 19B6 cisely as possible to avoid ambiguity in interpretation. By developing land use districts based on the functional relationship proposed in the comprehensive plan, we can increase the influence of planning on zoning ad- ministration. Using land use plans as the foundation for zoning contrasts sharply with land development regulations based purely on land hse compatibility and also with the use of cumulative zoning, both of which are common in many older zoning ordinances. The concept of land use districts based on functional relationships among urban activities results, however, in situations where functionally unrelated uses may be excluded from a district even though they are not in- herently incompatible; conversely, functionally related but not necessarily compatible uses may be placed in the same district. By combining express-purpose zoning with a conditional use permit process, we can overcome those problems. Conditional use permits to ensure compatibility Under the conditional use permit concept, many uses in a given zoning district will be permitted as a right, but some will be permitted only when authorized in each case by a special permit that specifies conditions for that case. As noted above, functional kinship of uses and compatibility of uses are not the same thing; there- Roeseler, AICP, is director of the Center for Urban Affairs at Texas A&M University and author of General Polities and Principles for Prototype Zoning Ordinances (1978) and Successful Amer- ican Urban Plans (19823. McClendon, AI CP, is director of planning /or the City of Fort Worth, Texas (formerly planning director for the cities of Beaumont and Arlington, Texas) and a past president (1954-85) of the American Planning Association.