Agenda - Planning Commission - 04/05/2007

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with the wash: down 25 percent over 50 years from 3.38 to 2.59 persons. Plallllers: if your commullity had zero populatioll growth over the last 50 years, the housing stock still had to grow by 25 percent just to keep up with household formation. Since 1970, the change is stiH 17 percent. In short, our national hous. ing stock is physically, functionally. and eco. nomicallyobso\escent. And marriage? Well, for men, the median age rose from 23 to 27in the last 50 years, and for women-up from 20 to 25. The shifts mean that smaller, single-person households and groups of unrelated people-unmarried and wIthout kids at hom~-are now living together. TELL IT TO THE JUDGE More than three decades ago. against a back- drop ofthe demographics and 20ningofthe 19Sos, the U.S. Supreme Court had before ita case on the definition offamily.The restrictive definition was expressly intended to protect single-familyqvaluesw and neighborhoods against the worst of all invasions: college stu- dents (see Zoning News, May 2002, for many strategies to fend off such hordes).The place was the Village of Belle Terre, New York, and the invaders were students from Stony Brook University.]n Village of Belle Terre v. Boraas, 416 U.s. 1 (1974),the Court upheld this defini. tion offamilyunderthe U.s. Constitution: One or more persons related by blood. adoption. or marriage. living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit, exc\usiveofhouseholdservants.Anumber of persons but not exceeding two (2) living and cookingtogetherasa single house- keeping unit though notreiated by blood, adoption, or marriage shall be deemed to constitute a family. Read it again, please. If you are related, no problem: There is no limitation whatsoever on lhe numberofpeople.When unrelated, however, only two people can live together legally. Compare this delinition with that of Euclid, Ohio,atthetimetheSupremeCourtvalidated zoning in Euclid v. Ambler(1926): "Any number of individuals living and cooking together on the who came in on the bus last week from LA.- the household is legal. Also consider a young couple"wrongfully"cohabitatingoutofwed. lock. These may be two unrelated people, but the living arrangement is allowed. However,beyouthreesa\vationArmy troops living together to help others, you are illegal. Equally so: if you are a gay or lesbian couple with 25 years of life together, commit- The United States has 51 constitutions, and what might be perfectly constitutional under the federal constitution may be perfectly unconstitutional under a state constitution. premises as a single housekeeping unit." Tnis functional (not relationaQ definition seems rather liberal compared to what happened later in many places to narrow the definition by "blood,marriage, and adoption." The Belie Terre decision is still good law, but it only interprets the U.s. Constitution and not the state constitutions. Remember, the United States has 51 constitutions, and what might be perfectly constitutional under the federal constitution maybe perfectly unconstitutionalunderastateconstitulion. More on this later. Try applying the U.s. Supreme Court-vali- dated definition. If the family unit is related by blood_considergrandmother,tl1reeunem- ployedbikerchlldrenwith more tattoos than a SturgisFestivalattendee,thechildren'schil- drennumberingadozenorsofromvarious illicit liaisons, and a handful of second cous]ns ment ceremony rings. and a foster child, expect a visIt from the local zoning enforce- mentofficer. IN THE PRESS-NOT A GOOD THING Theimplicationsofdefining"family"hithome when noneotherthan Miss Manners addressesitin herco\umn, as she did on March2,2006,citingwhatshedescribedas an "Insidious" zoning ordinance. The part of the definition she found mosttroublingwas theWcookingtogether' mandate, which she humorously predicted would create great ten- sion among family members because of access to the stove (she advocates "eating together"asabettermeasureoffamilylegiti- macy). Miss Manners on zoning definitions: oh,howfarplannershavecome! Within the last year, Manassas, Virginia, made the New York Times for further restricting ZONING?RACTICE Z.07 AMrRIUlNPLANNINGA550CIAT10Nlpcge3 85