Opinion ID: 1201899
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Definition of Contract Zoning

Text: At the outset, it is important to explain what is meant by contract zoning. Contract zoning has been variously defined by courts and commentators and has sometimes been used interchangeably with the term conditional zoning. See, e.g., 2 Robert M. Anderson, American Law of Zoning 3d § 9.21 (1986); 1 Norman Williams, Jr. & John M. Taylor, American Planning Law §§ 29.01-.04 (rev. ed. 1988). Contract and conditional zoning are distinct, however, and an appreciation of the distinction is important to understanding our holding today. Contract zoning, properly used, describes an agreement between a municipality and another party in which the municipality's consideration consists of either a promise to zone property in a requested manner or the actual act of zoning the property in that manner. Cf. Nolan M. Kennedy, Jr., Note, Contract and Conditional Zoning: A Tool for Zoning Flexibility, 23 Hastings L.J. 825, 831 (1972) (defining contract zoning in slightly different terms). A contract to zone may be in the form of either a unilateral contract or a bilateral contract. See id. at 837-38. A bilateral contract involves reciprocal promises in which the municipality promises to zone property in a certain manner in return for some promise from the other party to the contract. See id. at 838. A unilateral contract, on the other hand, consists of a promise by only one of the contracting parties; the other party's consideration is action or forbearance rather than a promise. 1 Arthur L. Corbin, Corbin on Contracts § 21 (1963). Thus, in the context of contract zoning, a unilateral contract describes two possible situations: Either a municipality promises to rezone in return for some action or forbearance by the other contracting party, or the other contracting party makes a promise in return for the municipality's act of rezoning. Cf. Kennedy, supra, at 837 (describing unilateral contract zoning only in terms of a promise by the other contracting party in return for the municipality's action of rezoning; not describing the converse situation). In comparison, conditional zoning is not contract zoning at all, because it does not involve a promise by either party. Rather, conditional zoning describes the situation in which a municipality rezones on condition that a landowner perform a certain act prior to, simultaneously with, or after the rezoning. Id. at 831. The absence of an enforceable promise by either party distinguishes conditional zoning from contract zoning. See id. In the present case, we address only the validity of contract zoning; we do not consider the propriety of conditional zoning.