Land Use & Zoning

Purpose of Ordinances

Kaysville’s planning and zoning ordinances are designed to:

“…provide for the health, safety, and welfare, and promote the prosperity, improve the morals, peace and good order, comfort, convenience, and aesthetics of the municipality and its present and future inhabitants and businesses, to protect the tax base, secure economy in governmental expenditures, foster agricultural and other industries, protect both urban and nonurban development, and to protect property values.” - Kaysville Municipal Code 17-1-2 (PDF)

Full Text

The full text of Kaysville’s zoning ordinances is contained under Title 17 of the municipal code.

Common Law

The concept of the right to use land for various purposes is rooted in English common law developed over many hundreds of years. The founding fathers adopted these common law private property rights as a part of the “bundle of rights” guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. In general, the right to use land for various purposes is only limited when those rights unreasonable infringe on the rights of others.

Zoning Ordinances

During the 1920’s the need for cities to have more control over the location and proximity of different land uses gave rise to zoning ordinances. Today, the legal basis for all land use regulation is the police power of the city to protect public health, safety, and the welfare of its residents (Berman versus Parker (1954). Zoning ordinances are supplemented by maps dividing areas of a city into different zones such as residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural etc.

More Information

To learn more about the basics of land use and zoning in Utah and Kaysville the Land Use Academy of Utah (LUAU) offers several brief but informative online videos and other helpful resources at Land Use Academy of Utah.