A moratorium, in the land use context, is a temporary halt to a particular kind of development – or all land development – in a town, city, region, or state. The moratorium usually takes the form of an ordinance or by-law passed by a town/city legislature, or a county entity, or special act by a state legislature. The length of a particular moratorium varies based upon the laws of a particular state; some limit a moratorium to 3 months while a recent situation involved a 32-month moratorium on development. In states where there is no moratorium statute, courts would use the test of “reasonableness” in deciding if the term of a moratorium is fair. For that reason, a moratorium resolution needs to list as many good, solid reasons as possible why the moratorium is needed, and that the proposed study is required for important governmental reasons, such as dangers to public health, safety, or welfare caused by traffic, pollution, overcrowding, over-development, excessive demand on recourses, etc. Where it can be done effectively, it’s a good idea for the resolving entity to list such reasons and then declare a PUBLIC EMERGENCY as requiring the moratorium to take effect immediately.
A moratorium can also be used as a legislative tool in rural areas. This type of area – characterized by more open space and less dense development – may lack the necessary zoning or land use regulations to deal effectively with Wal-Mart development, thereby providing the grounds for a moratorium while proper regulations are drafted, proposed, weighed, amended, and adopted.
Rationale Moratoria are used to allow government officials adequate time to address issues or study problems that are either only partly addressed in existing regulations, or are not addressed at all. This can include revising outdated regulations which are now obsolete. In the Wal-Mart context, many towns and cities have no regulations that deal with the particular impacts Wal-Mart brings to a community such as increased traffic, environmental concerns and overall aesthetic issues. A moratorium is a way to “stabilize” the existing land development activities in an area and allow officials time to either study and amend existing regulations, or create new ones.
Actual Examples
"Temporary Development Controls: Smart Growth Tools for Main Street" from the National Trust for Historic
Preservation can be downloaded by clicking here [Acrobat PDF]
