Proponents see zoning as an uncontroversial means of keeping glue factories away from homes, strip clubs away from schools, and generally protecting those things everyone likes: open space, property values, the environment, and more.

But ever-mounting home prices, and a growing number of stifled small business owners, are prompting a critical rethink of just how useful or necessary this mess of red tape and regulation really is.

Once an afterthought, zoning has become the hot-button issue in city halls and state capitals across the country. The debate is increasingly about how best to liberalize the rules that are on the books.

[This is the libertarian viewpoint, of course. I prefer some basic zoning, with flexibility, to keep industrial and residential areas apart at the very least, and yes to keep strip clubs from opening near schools. Without that separation, you inevitably get conflicts over traffic, industrial emissions, and so forth. The sriracha plant in Industry, CA comes to mind.

Can small towns deal with these issues without zoning? Perhaps, and they should be welcome to do so if their residents are satisfied with the results. Do other communities overdo zoning? Absolutely. But I think it’s a mistake to oppose zoning altogether, and the plan that Caroline, NY formulated sounds reasonable to me. — Ed]