What is the purpose of adopting zoning ordinances?
Zoning dates back to the early 1900s in the US. Zoning ordinances divide up a community into areas/zones and determine what can or can not be built in those areas with the public welfare in mind. San Francisco’s early restriction on slaughterhouses is a good example of how local governments began to use zoning to create a physical separation of residential uses from slaughtering. For example communities often have some division of residential from commercial uses. However, mixed-use zoning is being applied more because it allows people to walk to their shopping, school, etc.
