Copyright
2007
LandChoices -
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Why Large Lot Zoning
does not work

If you look at many
townships in the fast growing suburbs that have (or had) large lot zoning,
you will notice that many of these large acreage houselots have been
rezoned, by a request for a zoning variance, to smaller tracts and split
up for development.

In addition, in many cases large lot zoning
simply gives the community more lawn for a number of years until the
parcels are rezoned and subdivided over and over again into smaller and
smaller lots, not necessarily preserving any of the rural character.
Unfortunately, in most cases, large lot zoning is temporary at
best.

Large lot zoning can do more harm than good in most
cases.

Although the intent may be to protect land, large lot
residential zoning may waste land. Low density development, such as
10-acre lots, often mean that development will spread out into the
countryside, requiring improved roads and increased sewer, water and other
services that are costly to create and expensive to maintain.

"One
of the "solutions" that many conventional zoning ordinances use for
presumably maintaining open space and rural character is large lot zoning
-- that is establishing large, five to ten acre, minimum lot sizes in
rural zoning districts. Although large lot zoning does reduce the number
of homes that can be built, it also spreads out the homes in such a way
that none of the remaining land is useable for farming, forestry, or even
recreational trails.

With large lot zoning, houselots become "too
large to mow, but too small to plow," and the greater distance between
homes effectively stifles the emergence of any sense of neighborhood."
Randall Arendt

Country
Estates
With the planned use
of conservation easements to permanently protect natural land as
country estates, or strict agricultural zoning to protect working
farmland or horse farms, large 10 or 20 acre or more lots can work
in these circumstances. The problem is that most large lot zoning
becomes large lawn filled lots waiting to be subdivided.

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