Conventional zoning designates every piece of land as residential, commercial, or industrial. Only wetlands and floodplains cannot be developed. Open space zoning has been successfully implemented in many counties in New England, Virginia, Washington State, and California. New construction is located on only half of the land being developed, and the county or municipality protects the remaining open space. Open Space Zoning offers advantages to all parties.
Developers can reduce costs of building roads and other infrastructure due to higher density.
Local governments can save on maintenance equipment like snowplowing and road re-surfacing as a result of more compact development. And homebuyers often pay less because of these cost savings. There are several options to open space zoning. One is to require the zoning only in districts where certain resources are present. Another alternative is to have open space zoning only when the developer's conventional plan would destroy more than a specified percentage of certain resources.