“Substantial downzoning” is defined as the exercise of police power to significantly reduce the legally permitted density on undeveloped land in a community. This contentious practice is typically challenged by those who perceive the action to limit their market opportunities (e.g., farmers...

“Substantial downzoning†is defined as the exercise of police power to significantly reduce the legally permitted density on undeveloped land in a community. This contentious practice is typically challenged by those who perceive the action to limit their market opportunities (e.g.,...

Local governments in the United States use a wide range of tools to preserve rural landscapes. Some of these tools, like the purchase or transfer of development rights, are generally welcomed by farmers and other large landowners. Other tools, like increasing the minimum lot size in a town’s...

In rapidly suburbanizing areas, minimum lot sizes of ten acres or greater are often used to discourage residential development and to maintain agricultural critical mass. Because of significant development pressure in these places, there is a good chance these lot size regulations will bind....

Medical foods (MFs) fall in-between food and drugs. Because they are more expensive than normal foods, some states have mandated insurance companies (or their own state agencies) to provide coverage for the afflicted community, leaving a checkered pattern of coverage across the US, where...

Substantial increases in farmland demand in sub-urbanization have had profound effects on agriculture and produced a surge in farmland values. With escalating land values, farmland can take on the characteristics of a speculative asset and farmland owners may be more responsive to the investment...

The distribution of lot sizes and associated improvements affect property values. Hence, zoning affects municipal property tax revenues. If optimal lot size is inconsistent with the targeted zoning density in a community, municipal revenue can be increased through zoning change. This paper...