16 U.S.C. § 459e–2: Zoning regulations

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior must write rules for zoning inside the national seashore. The rules set standards for approving local zoning laws. They must aim to stop new commercial or industrial uses unless those uses fit the seashore’s purposes. The rules must also limit the size, location, or use of buildings, including homes and businesses, to protect and develop the land. The Secretary should try to balance the seashore’s population as of October 17, 1984 with protecting natural resources. The Secretary will approve any zoning law or change that follows the rules in effect when it was adopted. Approval stays in place while the law remains unchanged. The Secretary will not approve laws he finds harmful to protection or that do not give him notice of any variances or exceptions. If the Secretary’s power to take a property by condemnation was paused for a parcel (including improved property but not undeveloped land in the Dune district), and after October 17, 1984 that parcel gets a variance or exception that makes it break the Secretary’s rules in effect when the variance took effect, the pause ends automatically. The Secretary will give a certificate listing suspended properties on request. The Secretary, through the Attorney General, may ask the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York for a temporary order or injunction to stop uses or building that will likely cause serious harm to natural resources or that do not match the seashore’s purposes. Such an order usually may not last more than 180 days unless the court finds an extraordinary reason. While the order is in place, the Secretary must work in good faith with the owner to stop the harmful use or reduce the harm after the order ends.

Title 16, §459e–2

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(a)Amendment; standards for approval of ordinances

In order to carry out the provisions of section 459e–1 of this title the Secretary shall issue regulations, which may be amended from time to time, specifying standards that are consistent with the purposes of sections 459e to 459e–9 of this title for zoning ordinances which must meet his approval.

(b)Commercial or industrial use prohibition; size, location or use restrictions for commercial, residential, and other structures; reconciliation of population density with protection of natural resources

The standards specified in such regulations shall have the object of (1) prohibiting new commercial or industrial uses, other than commercial or industrial uses which the Secretary considers are consistent with the purposes of sections 459e to 459e–9 of this title, of all property within the national seashore, and (2) promoting the protection and development for purposes of sections 459e to 459e–9 of this title of the land within the national seashore by means of limitations or restrictions on the size, location or use of any commercial, residential, and other structures. In accomplishing these objectives, such standards shall seek to reconcile the population density of the seashore on October 17, 1984, with the protection of the natural resources of the Seashore consistent with the purposes for which it has been established as provided by sections 459e to 459e–9 of this title.

(c)Approval of ordinances

Following issuance of such regulations the Secretary shall approve any zoning ordinance or any amendment to any approved zoning ordinance submitted to him that conforms to the standards contained in the regulations in effect at the time of adoption of the ordinance or amendment. Such approval shall remain effective for so long as such ordinance or amendment remains in effect as approved.

(d)Adverse provisions and absence of notice for variance as requiring disapproval of ordinances

No zoning ordinance or amendment thereof shall be approved by the Secretary which (1) contains any provisions that he considers adverse to the protection and development, in accordance with the purposes of sections 459e to 459e–9 of this title, of the area comprising the national seashore; or (2) fails to have the effect of providing that the Secretary shall receive notice of any variance granted under, or any exception made to, the application of such ordinance or amendment.

(e)Termination of suspension of authority for acquisition by condemnation because of nonconforming variances and uses

In the case of any property, including improved property but excluding undeveloped property in the Dune district referred to in section 459e–1(g) of this title, with respect to which the Secretary’s authority to acquire by condemnation has been suspended under sections 459e to 459e–9 of this title if—

(1)such property is, after October 17, 1984, made the subject of a variance under, or becomes for any reason an exception to, any applicable zoning ordinance approved under this section; and

(2)such variance or exception results, or will result, in such property being used in a manner that fails to conform to any applicable standard contained in regulations of the Secretary issued pursuant to this section and in effect at the time such variance or exception took effect;

then the suspension of the Secretary’s authority to acquire such property by condemnation shall automatically cease.

(f)Certificate of suspension of authority for acquisition by condemnation

The Secretary shall furnish to any party in interest upon request a certificate indicating the property with respect to which the Secretary’s authority to acquire by condemnation is suspended.

(g)Injunctive relief; termination

Notwithstanding any other provision of sections 459e to 459e–9 of this title, the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Attorney General of the United States, may apply to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York for a temporary restraining order or injunction to prohibit the use of, including construction upon, any property within the seashore in a manner that—

(1)will cause or is likely to cause significant harm to the natural resources of the seashore, or

(2)is inconsistent with the purposes for which the seashore was established.

Except to the extent the Court may deem necessary in extraordinary circumstances, no such order or injunction shall continue in effect for more than one hundred and eighty days. During the period of such order or injunction, the Secretary shall diligently and in good faith negotiate with the owner of the property to assure that following termination of the order or injunction, the inconsistent use is abated or the significant harm to the natural resources is mitigated.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1984—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 98–482, § 4, substituted “by means of limitations or restrictions on the size, location or use of any commercial, residential, and other structures” for “by means of acreage, frontage, and setback requirements” and required that the standards seek to reconcile the population density of the seashore on Oct. 17, 1984, with the protection of the natural resources of the seashore. Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 98–482, § 3, designated part of existing provisions as pars. (1) and (2), made the provisions applicable to any property, and excluded undeveloped property in the Dune district. Subsec. (g). Pub. L. 98–482, § 5, added subsec. (g).

§459e–2 Zoning Regulations

Summary

Title 16, §459e–2

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

Citations & Metadata