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REAL ESTATE
AND
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 12, 1914
ipWIiiiiH
I PROTECTING RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS
m
Methods Employed in Various Cities Where Efforts Have Been
Made to Confine Industrial Concerns Within Prescribed Zones'^'
s
By LAWRENCE VEILLER |
r\OES the constitutional right to life,
^-^ liberty and the pursuit of happiness
include those important considerations
which our English cousins in their re¬
cent town planning- legislation refer to
as the "amenities"?
It is only in very recent years that we
have been conscious of the necessity of
doing something to protect our citizens
in the enjoyment of the right to lead a
quiet, contented, rational existence and
bring up their families free from the
noise, discomfort and nerve-racking at¬
mosphere whicli generally surrounds our
industries.
During the last few years in a few of
our larger cities we have awakened to
the folly of this disorderly and thought¬
less method of living and are beginning
to ask ourselves whether these discom¬
forts of living are really necessary after
all.
Property Restrictions.
From the earliest days even in Ameri¬
ca those of us who have not been espe¬
cially enamoured of noise and of a hurly
burly life, have sought so far as mere
man could, acting alone and without the
powerful support of government, to con¬
trol his own neighborhood and protect
the home and where he expected to
bring up a family and live for the rest
of his life. And so we find for many
years in America an efifort through pri¬
vate covenant or what is popularly
known as "property restrictions" to se¬
cure the result desired.
Unfortunately this method which has
been followed to a greater or less de¬
gree throughout all parts of the country
has not proved entirely satisfactory,
being a private arrangement between in¬
dividuals, and being only a mutual
agreement or contract, it has proved to
be easily dissolvable. Furthermore, in
many of our States the courts have held
that property restrictions imposed some
years back by the then owners of prop¬
erty are no longer binding and of effect
when the neighborhood conditions have
changed and when the succeeding prop¬
erty owners have desired to dissolve the
terms of such agreement.
Private covenant having proved i..-
eflfective, the use of the police power of
the State has finally been sought. How
far the police power will stretch in
America is still a question to be decided.
That the police power cannot be
stretched to cover merely aesthetic con¬
siderations is clear from the decisions of
our courts.
As yet no one has sought to define the
meaning of that important term "gen¬
eral welfare." It is a most important
one for those interested in progress. I
take it to be the American equivalent of
our English city planners' ''amenity."
What Has Been Done.
Such efforts as have been made in the
United States to extend the use of the
police power in this direction have all
been within the past few years, the earl¬
iest attempt having been made in the
State of California five years ago. Here
•From paper at the Sixth National Conference
on City Planning at Toronto.
in 1909 the first effort to establish resi¬
dential districts and to exclude there¬
from certain industries was made in the
city of Los Angeles.
In the year following a similar at¬
tempt was made in Michigan, in the city
of Grand Rapids, and more recently,
.viz., in 1913, there seems to have been
an epidemic of regulation of this kind,
the States of New York, Wisconsin,
Minnesota and Illinois having all passed
legislation of this nature.
So far as I can ascertain, all these va¬
rious attempts were made in an unre¬
lated way by each State, without knowl¬
edge of what the other was doing; in
fact, in most cases I believe without
knowledge of what California had done
four years previous.
California Leads,
The Los Angeles ordinance differs in
many respects from the districting plans
of other cities in that it lays the greater
emphasis upon the establishment of in¬
dustrial districts, whereas the schemes
embodied in the laws of other states
concern themselves with residential dis¬
tricts. The difference, however, after
all. is chiefly a question of emphasis.
The entire city of Los Angeles, with
the exceptio!! of two suburbs, is divided
into industrial and residential districts.
In addition to the industrial districts
there are what are termed "resident ex¬
ceptions;" in other words, small spots
where certain unol)jectionable industries
are permitted.
The industrial districts vary greatly in
shape and size. The largest has an area
of several square miles and measures
five miles in length and two miles in
width. The smallest district comprises
a single lot. As a whole the industrial
districts are grouped in one part of the
city. The "residence exceptions" are
small, with the exception of one which
is about a half mile in area. None of
them covers a greater area than two city
blocks and in many cases each does not
occupy more than one or two lots.
The Vm^ that is drawn between the
industrial district and the residential dis¬
trict in the Los Angeles scheme is that
all kinds of business and manufacturing
are permitted without restriction in the
industrial districts, while in the residen¬
tial districts certain specified businesses
of a_ distinctly objectionable nature are
prohibited. Those industries which ave
not enumerated in the prohibition are
permitted.
Manufacturing Forbidden.
In the residential districts all manu¬
facturing but that of the lightest kind is
forbidden, but less offensive business
and manufacturing establishments which
are excluded from the residential dis¬
tricts may be carried on in the "residence
exceptions," which seem to be a sort of
"twilight zone" between the two ex¬
tremes.
A distinctive feature of the Los An¬
geles scheme is that certain industries,
even if already established in the resi¬
dential district before the district is cre¬
ated, are to be excluded; that is, it be¬
comes unlawful to maintain these indus¬
tries even though they may have been in
operation for many years before the dis¬
trict was created.
In Michigan in 1910 the Common
Couiicil of Grand Rapids, without any
specific authority from the Legislature,
passed an ordinance establishing resi¬
dence districts, and subsequently this
ordinance was amended by creating ad¬
ditional residence zones. The validity
of the ordinance was attacked in the
courts and the Superior Court of Grand
Rapids held that the ordinance was un¬
constitutional and void, among other
reasons on the ground that "such ordi¬
nance constitutes a taking away of the
property of relator without due process
of law, in violation of the provisions of
the Fourteenth Amendment of the Con¬
stitution of the LInited States."
The Legislature of Wisconsin in 1913
passed an act authorizing cities of 25,000
or more to set aside exclusive residential
districts. The act thus affects the cities
of Milwaukee, Green Bay, La Crosse,
Madison. Oshkosh, Racine, Sheboygan
and Snperior.
At about the same time that the State
of Wisconsin was acting, the State of
Minnesota was taking similar action.
The Legislature of that State in 1913
passed an act empowering cities with a
population in excess of 50.000 to estab¬
lish exclusive residential and industrial
districts. Acting under authority of this
law the City Council of Minneapolis on
February 28, 1913. passed an ordinance
establishing certain residential districts.
So far as we can ascertain, thc validity
of this ordinance has not as yet been
tested.
The State of Illinois in the same year
also passed an act empowering cities to
establish residential districts and ex¬
clude therefrom certain other classes of
buildings, but this was vetoed by the
Governor upon an opinion from the At¬
torney-General that such an act would
be unconstitutional.
New York State Acts.
At the same time the Empire State of
New York was taking similar action. In
the Housing Law for Second Class Cities
will be found a similar plan for the es¬
tablishment of residential districts. In
that act a plan is provided for the estab¬
lishment of "residence districts" and the
erection of any buildins- other than a
private dwelling or two-family dwelling
in such districts is prohibited. The resi¬
dence district may be made as small as
one side of a city block.
Acting under authority of this law the
cities of Syracuse and Utica have passed
ordinances establishing such residential
districts.
New York City has also taken similar
action within the last two months, the
Legislature of 1914 having passed an en¬
abling act authorizing the Board of Esti¬
mate to divide the city into districts and
to regulate the use of buildings in each
district on a different basis. A commis¬
sion is to be appointed by the local au¬
thorities of New York City to determine
the boundaries of districts and to work
out the details of this plan.
What, it may be asked, are the im¬
portant considerations to be borne in
mind in seeking to utilize the police