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17 Va. J. Soc. Pol'y & L. 373 (2009-2010)
Enabling Urban Sprawl: Revisiting the Supreme Court's Seminal Zoning Decision Euclid v. Ambler in the 21st Century

handle is hein.journals/vajsplw17 and id is 377 raw text is: ENABLING URBAN SPRAWL: REVISITING THE SUPREME COURT'S SEMINAL ZONING DECISION EUCLID V AMBLER IN THE 21 ST CENTURY Wayne Batchis* ABSTRACT Today, many urbanists look back at our built environment with bemusement. The outcome of over fifty years of post-war suburbanization has fundamentally reshaped America's manmade landscape. From coast to coast, amorphous urban sprawl envelops America as far as the eye can see - and scholars have just begun to struggle to understand its causes and assess its impact. In this article I examine the phenomenon of urban sprawl and its relationship to exclusionary zoning. I argue that the Supreme Court in 1926 played a key role in enabling sprawl though its permissive zoning jurisprudence in Euclid v. Ambler. Had the Court scrutinized America ' early zoning laws with greater rigor, these laws could have been deemed constitutionally suspect - effectively stopping sprawl in its tracks. I conclude by exploring four significant flaws of the Euclid decision in light of the modern epidemic of sprawl. CONTENTS A b stract ................................................................................................. 373 I. Introduction ....................................................................................... 373 II. Sprawl - Its Definition and Impact .................................................. 374 III. Exclusionary Zoning - A Foundation of Sprawl ............................ 379 IV. The Constitution of Sprawl ............................................................. 383 V. Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty - The Birth of Euclidean Z on in g ............................................................................................ 387 V I. Euclid's Four Flaw s ........................................................................ 392 V II. C onclusion .................................................................................... 402 I. INTRODUCTION Today, many urbanists look back at our built environment with bemusement. The outcome of over fifty years of post-war suburbanization has fundamentally reshaped America's manmade landscape. From coast to coast, amorphous urban sprawl envelops America as far as the eye can see - and scholars have just begun to struggle to understand its causes and assess its impact. An examination of the Constitutional foundations of urban sprawl, specifically the Supreme Court's role in enabling pernicious exclusionary zoning in . Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Delaware; Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University; J.D. University of Pennsylvania Law School.

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