SINCE the majority of all urban land is generally held under private ownership, the impact of zoning laws on income and value of real property is most significant.
It can readily be seen that without comprehensive zoning control, the competition for diverse land uses would be disorganized. Individual preferences, land income concepts, speculation and, possibly, greed might cause “quilt work” land uses, which will ultimately destroy not only land values but the usefulness of the city as a social, economic and political unit.
As a general rule, courts have upheld the legislative rights granted to communities by law to regulate, in the public interest, the use of private property. The underlying
concept in court decisions is that cities must grow, and where individual rights interfere with those of the majority, individual prerogative must give way.
Unfortunately, the zoning practices of Metro Cebu’s component cities and towns have created a hodgepodge of zoning laws.
The artificial political boundaries of cities and towns bear little relation to the natural airsheds, watersheds and ecosystems in each region. As a result, zoning or land use planning and control in one area may be undercut by the lack of zoning or by zoning with opposite goals in surrounding areas.
It s to the best interest of the community that Cebu creates advisory councils of government, to draw up and coordinate integrated zoning practices and land use plans for the entire island.
The legal basis for zoning is the police power under which the state, or its duly constituted arms and branches of government, may control the use of private property—where the interests and protection of health, welfare and morality of the citizens as a whole make such control necessary. Since zoning exercised under the police power of the state permits the taking of private property (by limiting its use) without compensation, zoning ordinances are applied with caution and only after due public hearings have convinced city officials that the rights taken are adequately balanced, if not exceeded, by the value that accrues to the community as a whole.
Zoning regulations affect private ownership in land by regulating the right of the owner to employ the land for limited uses only, by restricting the height of the buildings that may be placed on the land and by limiting the maximum land area that building improvements may occupy.
Metro Cebu areas that are subject to zoning control are generally divided into three main use classifications: residential, commercial and industrial. Thus, residential property may be classified as residential A land (limited to single detached residences), B (semi-detached residences and structures containing not more than four dwelling units) and C (apartments, churches, private clubs, schools, hotels and similar approved land uses).
Commercial land, too, may be subdivided into areas reserved for business A (office buildings, retail establishments, service shops, restaurants and so forth) and B areas (lofts and light manufacturing). Industrial areas under modern zoning practice prohibit the erection of residential units on industrial or commercial zoned land. It is deemed equitable and essential to protect the large investment in industrial plants and buildings against possible future suits by residents, based on claims that their health or
welfare is affected by noxious odors, excessive dust, smoke or other forms of nuisance that normally may be accepted as characteristic of an industrial environment.
Zoning as a tool of city planning may be employed to direct city growth and encourage land uses that are in the best interest of the city at large. This type of zoning is known as “directive” zoning, as distinguished from “restrictive” or “protective” zoning, which safeguards established and higher land uses from encroachment by lower or non-conforming ones. Local government should stop the practice of granting land use exemptions and the maintenance of the property’s status quo, which is known as “spot zoning.” I hope zoning ordinances will be strictly enforced by the agencies concerned.
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