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Content: Like many municipal regulations, zoning is a somewhat confusing and generally pretty boring set of codes that, unbeknownst to most residents, directly impacts the very structures of our lives. Yeah, zoning is that important. It’s why you don’t have a fast food restaurant for a next door neighbor, why you can’t open a small petting zoo in your backyard, and it may even be partially responsiblefor why housing is so unaffordable and inaccessiblein many parts of the country (such as San Francisco, where zoning laws have often prevented more affordable, multifamily housing from being established). What Is Zoning? Zoning laws regulate the use of land within a municipality. It controls the ways in which the land can be developed and what purposes the zoned land can serve. Zoning is what keeps a residential district residential, a commercial district commercial, an industrial district industrial, and so on. Zoning dictates what types of properties can co-exist in a particular area within a municipality. For example, some areas are zoned strictly for single-family homes (possibly with exceptions for things like religious buildings or community centers), while certain mixed-used or transitional zoning districts may allow for select businesses and some single and multifamily homes to exist in the same area. On the other end of the spectrum, structures used for heavy industry will be consigned to specifically zoned areas that are purposely kept far away from residential districts.