Buildings and Planning Legislations PLNC 5208B

Course description:

This course will examine legal issues related to land use control that is excerised by local government.The course in its content examines an array of legal issues related to local governmental land use regulations.The focus is on the authority of government to impact the uses and utility of land because government is broadly charged with balancing the individual’s rights and interests in land with that of the “public interest and need.”The concern in this course is on municipal government that has been given the responsibility of carrying out this function, and does so in the context of local values, preferences, and sensibilities. Local government is the public custodian of community character and typically seeks to maintain that character within constitutional limits. But, given the social, economic, and political implications of land use, local governments are continually testing the constitutional limits of their power to control land uses.How planners to understand the constitutional dimensions and limitation of local authority with respect to regulating land. 

Course Aims:

This course aims to:
  • Introduce students to important issues and key constitutional concepts within the area of land use law.
  • Provide students with an understanding of the essential legal precepts in the administration of land use. 
  • Help students begin to think more concretely and systematically about the impact that land use authority has had and can have on the shaping of community life. 
  • Provide students with a framework for assessing the legal and ethical considerations related to governmental exercise of land use authority.

Course outcomes:

The students upon completion of this course would be able to:
  • understand the role of planning law within a society.
  • have a depth of knowledge in constitutional basis for zoning and its evolution. 
  • understand the emergence of Local Government Zoning.
  • depth of knowledge in land use control, the changes occurred in comprehensive plan,the comprehensive plan as law, base zoning, zoning administration, performance zoning and subdivision regulations.
  • Enhance students’ knowledge about how governmental structure responsible for planning is organized for each of the municipal form, the zoning function that resides in each of the form of government’s structure, and eventually about physical planning legislation allocatated to property development, like buiding regulations associated with permitted and/or unpermitted development.