The Role of the Local Comprehensive Plan in Land Use Regulation

This article will deal with the enlarged role of the comprehensive plan in the local land use control process. Part I examines traditional judicial views of the role of the comprehensive plan as a guide to zoning administration. Part II suggests that innovations in land use control and comprehensive planning techniques evidence a need for mandatory planning. Subsequent sections examine changes in the judicial attitude toward the role of the comprehensive plan in land use control administration, and survey some enacted and proposed state legislation that modifies the early planning acts by requiring comprehensive planning. This legislation is analyzed to determine what elements are essential to the mandatory planning process, how they should be enunciated in statutory form, and how the requirement that land use control administration be consistent with the comprehensive plan should be legislatively expressed and legally enforced.