Home Rule

Home rule is the power of a local government to adopt its own regulations for land-use within its confines. This gives the government control over zoning laws in a community, which may dictate what homeowners are and are not allowed to use a given piece of property for. A common example of this may be a regulation stating that an adult business is not allowed within so many feet of a school or other area with children. Another example would be if a city has a zoning law on keeping billboards or signs below a specified size. By using home rule, a government can control what home and business owners are allowed to do with their property in order to ensure that the community does not suffer depreciation in value due to the actions of one person or business.