Planning Commissioners' Procedures Manual - Hamilton County, Ohio

leaders must comprehend long term strategies for development options to best meet the future
needs of residents.
Rural Zoning Purpose and Definition
http://ohioline.osu.edu/cd-fact/0300.html
In 1947, the Ohio General Assembly passed enabling legislation that allows cities, villages,
counties, and townships to establish zoning. The procedures and methods and procedures to
establish zoning are distinct. However, the content is the discretion of the people of the area.
Ohio's law is very precise and detailed. The law is designed to involve the public in the zoning
process.
Zoning regulation can be divided into two categories: unincorporated (rural) and municipal. This
series of fact sheets will focus on rural zoning. Rural zoning concentrates on township and
county zoning outside of municipalities (village, town, city).
Township zoning is the responsibility of township trustees. County zoning falls into the
jurisdiction of the county commissioners. County zoning may include all or any number of
townships in the county. County zoning includes a uniform zoning text administered countywide.
All zoning issues are accepted or rejected by referendum.
A study of court cases related to zoning shows that the underlying purpose must be to safeguard
and promote the health, morals, safety, and general welfare of the community.
Purpose of Zoning
The purpose of zoning is to protect public health, safety, and welfare. For a zoning resolution to
be legal, it must be wholly in the concept of general welfare. This means the zoning resolution
must:
• secure a public purpose
• be reasonable
• not be confiscatory
• be consistent
The "public purpose" is to prevent landowners or tenants from using their site to the detriment of
the general welfare of the community at large. Actions that have no bearing on public health,
safety, and general welfare are outside the scope of zoning.
Zoning regulation must be reasonable. For example, the size and location of signs may be
regulated, but to ban them completely is considered unreasonable.
Zoning must not be confiscatory. If land is regulated to the extent it cannot be used for anything
of economic value, the effect is to take the land. The courts have ruled that these regulations
have exceeded the boundaries of power and are unconstitutional.