The Legal Consequences of Downzoning

Brad Kuhn and Jillian Leivas Friess published the article “The Legal Consequences of Downzoning” in Development, a publication of NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association.

In the article, Brad and Jillian provide an overview of downzoning—an action where a government agency rezones a parcel of land once previously zoned for a more intense use to a more restrictive use (for example, changing the zoning designa­tion of an undeveloped parcel of land to agricultural or open space). They also look at how those who purchase an undeveloped property zoned for commercial, industrial or residential uses only to later have that property rezoned for agricultural or open-space uses can suffer a loss—and examine when such an action is entitled to compensation by analyzing a case in California, FFV Coyote LLC v City of San Jose. The case explores whether developers can be compensated because of a change in land-use designation.