But yeah, the insane detail that many cities have in their zoning plans is stifling.
The link[7] monkeypizza included elsewhere in this thread is what I'd like to see as the norm
[7] http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2014/04/japanese-zoning.html
My adult life has mostly been in Dallas which is very different. I’ve attempted land development myself so know more than a layman but Dallas and especially surrounding suburbs have what feels like an insane level of zoning. I say “attempted” because there have been a couple dozen times where I see a building or raw land parcel and feel it would be perfect for some use. Do some research and find it wouldn’t be allowed. On some occasions I have a specific aesthetic (tasteful, but I like unique/artistic structures) that I’d like, only to find the town requires all buildings to be made/finished of no less than 80% red brick or paint 1 of 6 predetermined shades of brown. It’s killed my endeavors every time and honestly, makes the DFW area an architecturally soulless Place to be IMO. Just recently, maybe 2018, the state banned these local aesthetic requirements. But I think locally it’s still a fight to get something too far from the city planners vision built.
You've answered some questions I've had about Dallas...
Is it OK for someone to buy the house next door, and build a cafe? What about a night club, which has loud music and closes at 4am?
How about a rendering plant? Or installing a large propane storage facility?
Is there nothing you'd consider unsafe, unwanted, beside the house you just paid $500k for? Which is now worth $200k, and makes it horrid to live there?
These laws, like all laws, are necessary.
Where the problem sits, is when they go too far, or not far enough. There is a sweet spot for everything!
It's one thing if you can opt out of a collective pact by picking another jurisdiction, but local busybodies are so widely spread that land legally allowed to be developed even in a short but dense, traditional American style, is so scarce that it fetches a premium, so now there is nothing between the extremes of "quiet cookie cutter suburb far from everything" and "busy noisy neighborhood of tower blocks."