Everyday definitions.

Last reviewed June 2026 · 45 terms

Zoning

The rules about what kinds of buildings and uses are allowed where.

Most cities and counties divide land into zones (residential, commercial, industrial, mixed-use). Each zone has rules about what can be built and how.

Variance

Permission to bend a zoning rule for one specific property.

If a property owner cannot meet a setback, height, or other rule, local law may provide a variance process. Participation and notice rules vary; check the case notice and governing code.

Setback

The minimum distance a building must sit from a property line.

Setbacks protect light, air, and privacy between properties. They are often what variances seek to reduce.

Easement

A permanent right for someone else to use part of your land.

Easements run with the land — they outlast you and the current owner. Read every line before signing one.

Right-of-way

A strip of land where another party (often a utility) has access.

Different from an easement in detail, similar in effect: the holder can enter and do specified work without further permission.

Public hearing

A meeting with a formal opportunity for public input before or during a decision process.

Procedures, speaking limits, and who may participate vary by the body and jurisdiction. Check the official agenda or ask the clerk what applies.

Comment period

A stated window for submitting written public input.

If you cannot attend, ask whether written comment is accepted, how to submit it, and how to confirm that it entered the official record.

Conditional use

A use allowed only if certain conditions are met.

Conditions can include hours, fencing, landscaping, monitoring, or noise limits. Conditions are often where neighbor-protections live.

Special-use permit

Permission for a use that isn't allowed by right in this zone.

Local zoning may require this kind of approval for uses such as data centers, towers, or warehouses. The review and hearing procedure varies.

Rezoning

Changing what can legally be built on a property.

More involved than a variance. Usually requires legislative action and a public hearing.

Appeal

A formal request for a decision to be reviewed through an available administrative or court process.

Deadlines vary locally and may be very short. Read the written decision or order and contact the clerk promptly.

Utility corridor

A strip of land set aside for power, gas, or water infrastructure.

Easements are typically granted along corridors for transmission lines and pipelines.

Substation

An electrical facility that steps power up or down between voltages.

Often a noise and lighting concern for neighboring homes.

NIMBY

Short for "not in my back yard." Used in different ways by different people.

We don't use this label here. People raising specific, well-grounded questions are participating in democracy — that's the whole point of public notices.

Quasi-judicial

A decision process in which a public body applies existing standards to facts about a particular request.

Local rules may specify who can participate, what evidence the body may consider, and how the record is created. The label and procedure vary by jurisdiction; check the governing code and the clerk's instructions.

Legislative act

A policy-making action that creates or changes generally applicable rules.

Rezoning and ordinance processes may be treated as legislative in some jurisdictions, but classifications and procedures vary. Confirm how the local government describes the matter before relying on a particular hearing or review path.

Written decision or development order

The written instrument a jurisdiction uses to record a decision and any controlling conditions.

Names and legal effects vary: a jurisdiction may use a decision, order, resolution, ordinance, adopted conditions, approved plan, or another instrument. Obtain the document the clerk identifies as controlling and review it promptly.

Proffer

A commitment offered in connection with a land-use request in jurisdictions that recognize that procedure.

The term, permitted scope, adoption process, and enforceability are jurisdiction-specific. Ask which written instrument contains the commitment and what local law makes it effective.

By-right

A use the zoning already allows; no hearing needed.

A by-right project generally does not need discretionary land-use approval when it satisfies the applicable rules. Inspection, permit, and participation options depend on the local process.

Staff report

The planning department's written analysis and recommendation on an application.

The staff report explains the staff analysis or recommendation. Agenda-posting schedules vary locally. Check the meeting body's official agenda page or ask the clerk when materials are expected.

Conditions of approval

Specific limits attached to an approval (hours, fencing, monitoring, traffic, noise).

Conditions are often where neighbor protections live. A condition can require buffering, hours of operation, lighting limits, monitoring reports, or future review.

Site plan

The drawing showing what will be built, where, and how it connects to streets, utilities, and drainage.

Site plans show the footprint, parking, access, stormwater features, landscaping, and lighting. They are the single most useful document in any project file.

Comprehensive plan

The long-range guide a city or county is supposed to follow when making land-use decisions.

Sometimes called a master plan or general plan. Read the section that covers the parcel — it tells you what the locality already said it wanted to happen there.

Public notice

A legally required announcement that a decision is coming, usually with a hearing date.

Notice can be a sign on the parcel, a mailed letter, a newspaper ad, or a posted agenda. Agenda-posting schedules vary locally. Check the meeting body's official agenda page or ask the clerk when materials are expected.

Agenda item

A single matter scheduled for a body's meeting.

The corresponding section of the agenda packet — staff report, plans, public comments received — is what to read before the meeting.

Continued

A hearing that is not finished and will resume on a new date.

When an item is continued, the case is alive and your comments may need to be repeated. Confirm the new date with the clerk.

Tabled

Set aside for now without a scheduled return date.

A tabled item can come back at any future meeting. Watch the agenda; nothing has been decided.

Deferred

Postponed, usually at the applicant's request.

Functionally similar to continued, but the delay was requested by the applicant. The case is still alive.

Remanded

Sent back to a lower body for more work.

Remand pauses the case while planning staff or a commission revises the record. A new hearing is likely.

Approved with conditions

Granted only if the applicant meets specific limits attached to the approval.

Conditions are where neighbor protections live: hours of operation, buffers, lighting limits, monitoring.

Ex parte communication

A private conversation about a case between a decision-maker and one side.

Local rules may restrict or require disclosure of ex parte contact. Ask the clerk which rule applies to the matter.

Exhibit

A document or image marked and accepted into the official record.

Hand exhibits to the clerk and ask that they be labeled — "Exhibit A, photograph of the site, taken June 14, 2026."

FOIA

The federal Freedom of Information Act, which governs records held by federal agencies.

Most states have a parallel public records law for state, county, and city agencies. Names vary; the idea is the same.

Constructive denial

Treating silence past the legal response window as a denial you can appeal.

Some public-records laws treat agency silence as a denial or provide another review path. Public-records response and appeal timing vary by jurisdiction. Check the applicable law or agency instructions and calendar any stated date promptly.

Fee waiver

A request to have records-request fees reduced or removed for public-interest use.

Fee waivers are usually granted when the records are sought for non-commercial purposes that benefit public understanding.

Writ of certiorari

A court order asking a lower body to send up the record so the court can review the decision.

In some land-use systems, this is a way to ask a court to review a board's record. Deadlines vary locally and may be very short. Read the written decision or order and contact the clerk promptly.

Special exception

A use the zoning allows in this district only if specific criteria are met.

Similar in spirit to a special-use permit; the naming varies by state. Decisions are made by a board after a hearing, and conditions are common.

Standing

The legal requirement for showing that a decision affects you enough to seek review.

Standing rules vary by jurisdiction and review path. Participation, proximity, ownership, or a particularized effect may matter; do not assume one factor is sufficient.

Permit

Official permission to build, operate, or do something the rules would otherwise restrict.

Permits come in layers: zoning, building, environmental, operational. Each has its own application, review, and inspection process — and its own moment when neighbors can comment.

Mitigation

Steps an applicant agrees to take to reduce a project's impact.

Mitigation can be physical (berms, fencing, replanting), operational (hours, monitoring, dust control), or financial (impact fees). It is often where neighbor negotiations happen.

Stormwater

Rain and snowmelt that runs off rooftops, parking lots, and roads.

Most projects must show where stormwater goes and how it is slowed and cleaned before reaching a stream. Look for a stormwater management plan in the application packet.

Wetlands

Land where water sits or saturates the soil long enough that water-loving plants take over.

Wetlands are regulated at the federal, state, and sometimes local level. Filling or draining them usually requires a permit and often requires creating replacement wetlands elsewhere.

Conservation easement

A permanent restriction on how land can be used, recorded against the deed.

Often donated or sold to a land trust to prevent future development. Read the exact language — what is permitted, what is forbidden, and who enforces it varies.

Buffer

A strip of trees, fence, or distance separating an intense use from a less intense one.

Buffers are commonly written into conditions of approval. Look for specifics: width, what is planted, who maintains it, and what happens if it dies.

Floodplain

The area along a stream or river that floods on a known recurrence interval.

FEMA maps the 1%-annual-chance (100-year) and 0.2%-annual-chance (500-year) floodplains. Building in a floodplain is restricted and usually requires special permits and elevation certificates.