About
Neighborhood-serving zones, also known as town-serving zones, neighborhood retail zones, or commercial neighborhood zones, aim to sustain small, local businesses by limiting the size and type of stores in certain districts. These zones are typically mixed-use neighborhoods of varying density and scale that are established around historic commercial corridors. While they are typically located in corridors, these zones may also be applied to small clusters of commercial activity in residential districts, such as commercial buildings. Neighborhood-serving zoning laws require new retail stores to demonstrate that a majority of their sales come from the surrounding neighborhood. Such zones can work as anti-displacement tools by preserving existing community-oriented small businesses and helping to keep capital circulating locally.
Stakeholders
Government or Public Agency
Strategies in Action
Neighborhood Commercial Districts – San Francisco, CA
In 1987, San Francisco created Neighborhood Commercial Districts, establishing a neighborhood-serving zone system tailored to specific areas’ unique characteristics. For instance, in North Beach, non-residential uses that are 2,000 sq. ft. or more are permitted [...]
Town Serving Zone – Palm Beach, Florida
Efforts to establish Palm Beach’s Town Serving Zone began in 1988, through resident advocacy. The zone capped store sizes at 2,000 square feet and required businesses to serve primarily people living or working in Palm [...]
Development Moratoria – Fort Collins, Colorado
In 1994, the City of Fort Collins adopted a Development Moratoria to stem the rush of large chain “superstores'' locating to the area. Superstores were defined as any building, or combination of buildings, intended to [...]
Montgomery County Planning Department – Montgomery County, Maryland
In February 2013, the Montgomery County Planning Department implemented the Neighborhood Retail (NR) Zone for commercial areas located within primarily residential areas that “have a neighborhood orientation and which… supply necessities usually requiring frequent purchasing [...]
The Commercial Neighborhood (CN) Zone – Prince George’s County, Maryland
In April 2022, as part of a larger zoning rewrite, the Prince George’s County Planning Department consolidated its previous 11 commercial zones into three zones: the Commercial, Neighborhood (CN) Zone; the Commercial, Service (CS) Zone; [...]
