A. The problem and complexities which necessitated the original adoption of building and land use regulations have been multiplied by increases in population, technical advances, and expanded community service requirements. Therefore, the decisions and actions of today are even more crucial to the sound development of the community as a whole. The purpose of this Chapter aligns itself with the reasons for accepting zoning expressed by Justice Sutherland in the leading U.S. Supreme Court decision, Village of Euclid, Ohio v. Amber Realty Company, 272 U.S. 365, 47 Sup. Ct. 114 (1926):
"Building zone laws are of modern origin. They began in this country about twenty-five years ago. Until recent years, urban life was comparatively simple; but with the great increase and concentration of population, problems have developed, and are constantly developing, which require, and will continue to require, additional restrictions in respect to the use and occupation of private lands in urban communities. Regulations, the wisdom, necessity and validity of which, as applied to existing conditions, are so apparent that they are now uniformly sustained. A century ago, or even half a century ago, probably, they would have been rejected as arbitrary and oppressive. Such regulations are sustained, under the complex conditions of our day for reasons analogous to those which justify traffic regulations, which, before the advent of automobiles and rapid transit street railways, would have been condemned as fatally arbitrary and unreasonable. And in this there is no inconsistency, for which the meaning of constitutional guarantees never varies, the scope of their application must expand or contract to meet the new and different conditions which are constantly coming within the field of their operation. In a changing world, it is impossible that it should be otherwise."
B. This Zoning Policy Statement is intended to reassert the following objectives:
1. To effectuate the planning program;
2. To regulate individual property use by establishing use districts, building site requirements, setback, density, parking, and height regulations, and by specifying external impact standards for noise, smoke, odor, glare, and vibration;
3. To decrease land use frictions, thereby reducing their incompatible effect;
4. To develop a serviceable relationship between private property uses and necessary public improvements;
5. To contribute to the minimization of governmental expenditures;
6. To enhance the desirability of living in the community for all residents regardless of race, religion, or economic circumstance;
7. To promote and protect the public health, safety, morals, comfort, and general welfare of the people;
8. To provide adequate light, air, privacy and convenience of access to property;
9. To protect the character and the stability of existing uses;
10. To establish building lines and the location of buildings;
11. To fix reasonable standards to which buildings or structures shall conform therein;
12. To prevent additions to or alteration or remodeling of existing buildings or structures in such a way as to avoid the restrictions and limitations imposed hereunder;
13. To limit congestion in the public streets and protect the public health, safety, convenience, and general welfare by providing for off-street parking of motor vehicles and the loading and unloading of commercial vehicles;
14. To provide for the gradual elimination of nonconforming uses of land, buildings and structures which are adversely affecting the character and value of desirable development in each district;
15. To define and limit the powers and duties of the administrative officers and bodies as provided herein;
16. To prescribe the penalties for the violation of the provisions of this Chapter or any amendments thereto; and
17. To prevent the hazards to persons and damage to property resulting from the accumulation of run-off of storm or flood waters.
C. This Chapter shall be known, and may be cited and referred to as any of the following: 'The Mettawa Zoning Ordinance', 'The Mettawa Zoning Code' or 'Chapter 15 Zoning'."
(Ord. 397, passed 5-12-99; Am. Ord. 565, passed 8-15-2006)