Abstract
A local government's power to enact zoning regulations falls within the general power to provide for the health, safety, and welfare of its citizenry. This thesis addresses a few selected First Amendment issues as they apply to zoning and land use restrictions in Georgia. Free speech review of zoning ordinances applies to zoning for adult sex businesses, such as adult book stores and cinemas. The First Amendment balancing test that is applicable to adult entertainment ordinances is discussed in Chapter One. The free speech impact of restrictions on signs and billboards is discussed in Chapter Two. Finally, in Chapter Three, zoning and the free exercise clause of the First Amendment is discussed as it applies to the regulation of religious uses of land. The United States Congress enacted legislation to protect religious institutions from government regulation. However, the legislation was unconstitutional. Georgia courts do not recognize First Amendment protection for religious uses in the face of zoning regulations. A traditional zoning analysis is applied with regulations being invalidated only if they are unreasonable or arbitrary.
Repository Citation
NELSON, BARBARA JO, "LOCAL GOVERNMENT LAND USE RESTRICTIONS AND SELECTED FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES" (1999). LLM Theses and Essays. 255.
https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/stu_llm/255
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Civil Law Commons, Constitutional Law Commons, Construction Law Commons, First Amendment Commons, Government Contracts Commons, Land Use Law Commons