Cluster Zoning Is a Win-Win for Municipalities and Developers

January 27, 2021

A view held by some opponents of property development is that construction of commercial, industrial, or residential properties is by necessity anti-environment and damaging to open space, parkland, playgrounds, wetlands, floodplains, or other similar areas.

Of course, there are many reasons to dispute that contention, and a wide variety of federal, state, and local environmental and zoning laws and regulations both encourage development while helping to ensure that the environment is protected.

For a host of reasons, one long-standing zoning tool – cluster zoning – may be on the precipice of a broad reawakening. That is because cluster zoning can meet many of the needs of today’s homeowners for everything from access to outdoor space to shops within walking distance of their residences, while at the same time leaving sensitive natural resources secure for generations to come at no cost to taxpayers.

Reprinted with permission from New York Law Journal, Wednesday, January 27, 2021, Vol 265 – No. 17.

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