The Value of Zoning
Mark Twain once urged everyone to buy land because “they’ve stopped making it.” That may be a good slogan for real estate agents but the law of supply and demand has made land unaffordable to the average citizen. Population is rapidly growing and there is no more land left to accommodate people, most of them poor who wants to live in urban areas in search for better opportunities. This has put immense pressures on urban systems responsible for the environment, health, social services, housing and transportation, among others.
During Tom Sawyer’s time, the population of Iloilo City was only about 71,600. Today, the city of only 56 square kilometers is home to roughly 365,000, and this figure doubles during daytime due to the transient population – students, shoppers, and public and private workers. With an average population density of 6,533 people per square kilometer, Iloilo City has become too overcrowded that land has become so scarce. Unless we start reclaiming the sea, then we have to be content with the limited room that the city has to offer.
The growing demand for land and its natural resources creates competition and conflicts. Consequently, there is a need to manage land efficiently to meet human requirements in a sustainable manner. This can be done by resolving conflicting uses and finding more effective and appropriate way of using land. Therefore, land use planning has become an important component of governance because it ensures that land is used to its most sustainable way, thus achieving efficiency of resource use. When coupled with proper land conservation, it leads to sustainability.
Local government units (LGUs) in the Philippines are mandated to come up with comprehensive land use plans (CLUPs). Sadly, only a few local executives and planning officers and staff have adequate capability to formulate comprehensive and sustainable land use plans. As a result, priorities are not addressed properly and the standard of living of the stakeholders remains stagnant. Furthermore, since land uses were not properly harmonized and integrated with the environment, resources are wasted and consequently degraded.
Luckily for Iloilo City and its neighboring municipalities as well as Guimaras province under the umbrella of the Metro Iloilo-Guimaras Economic Development Council (MIGEDC), capacity development in land use planning is provided not only to meet the needs of individual LGUs but to harmonize their land use plans to effectively manage the growth of the regional city. A Metro Iloilo-Guimaras Spatial Framework Plan was even developed to guide LGUs as they individually and collectively address the challenges of urbanization.
But the work does not end there. To give life to CLUPs, LGUs must have zoning ordinances that will regulate land uses and ensure the achievement of the desired development strategy of the LGU. Without zoning ordinances, the CLUP will remain as it is – a document that simply embodies specific proposals for guiding and regulating growth and development. No matter how beautiful an LGU’s CLUP is, it will never be appreciated if no enabling zoning ordinance is passed to implement it.
Just this week, the MIGEDC in partnership with the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) and the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) conducted a workshop on the implementation of CLUP through the zoning ordinances. The activity was aimed at improving growth management in the MIG region through improved capacities of LGUs on more efficient and effective land use and zoning administration as a mechanism at helping generate more revenues.
A few municipalities, especially newly-created ones, do not have zoning ordinances yet and the workshop stressed the urgent need of not only having one but also of streamlining zoning procedures for the people to fully appreciate the value of ensuring the orderly growth of an LGU in accordance with its development and land use plan. And with the rising threat of climate-related disasters, people should doubly appreciate the need of putting things in order to make communities resilient to coming environmental shocks.
Not many people are aware that zoning can affect their safety and wellbeing since it designates how land in certain areas should be used. Zoning ordinances can also limit the kind of structures that can be built in an area, how many should be allowed, and how high, among other considerations, mainly to prevent new structures from intruding on existing ones. The power to zone is derived from the police power of the state – the power to promote distributive justice and to intervene when the common good so demands.
Order is heaven’s first law, says Alexander Pope. Zoning ordinances, therefore, must be observed and enforced strictly to avoid chaos as each one scampers for a space to live and earn a living. If there is no order, cities will be stuffed with problems like mushrooming slums, poor sanitation, mounting garbage, water shortage, horrific traffic and killer pollutions, among others. And while these problems exist in our midst, it is heartwarming to note that LGUs are equipping themselves with skills and knowledge on how to exercise their police powers for the benefit and protection of their citizens.
Nereo C. Lujan
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