Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World Highlight

What they established under the Chief’s vague authority is that municipalities under their delegated police powers could, “for the purpose of promoting health, safety, morals, or the general welfare of the community… regulate and restrict the height, number of stories, and size of buildings and other structures, the percentage of lot that may be occupied, the size of yards, courts, and other open spaces, the density of population, and the location and use of buildings, structures, and land for trade, industry, residence, or other purposes.”21 States took up the language, and it helped permanently lodge a tremendous amount of authority in the hands of local governments and the landowners who ran them.