LOCAL HYDROFRACKING BANS 655
purview of their legislative power.^192 Though cities, towns, and
villages all have similar zoning authority,^193 this Note will focus
on the zoning power of towns.
B. Zoning and PreemptionLocal governments can use their police power to create laws
for the “protection, order, conduct, safety, health and well-being
of persons or property.”^194 Such police power also includes
advancing the general welfare.^195 Under both the Statute of Local
Governments and the Municipal Home Rule Law, local
governments can zone under their police power.^196 Local
government’s police power covers a broad array of activities
from aesthetic concerns to preserving the character of the
community.^197 While the zoning power of local governments is
quite broad, courts have limited their authority in some areas.^198
For instance, the Court of Appeals in New York has generally
held that local governments cannot use their zoning power to
create regulations that have the effect of excluding minorities or
the poor.^199 Another common area of contention is whether
(^192) Zoning ordinances and zoning laws are interchangeable and this Note
will refer to both as zoning laws. There are some procedural differences
between enacting a zoning ordinance or zoning law but they are not relevant
for a discussion of preemption. See SALKIN, supra note 177, §§ 3:01–03,
3:13–40; see also Anschutz Exploration Corp. v. Town of Dryden, 940
N.Y.S.2d 458, 467–68 (Sup. Ct. 2012) (citing Gernatt Asphalt Prods. v.
Town of Sardinia, 664 N.E.2d 1226, 1234–35 (N.Y. 1996) (referring to
zoning ordinances as land use laws)).
(^193) See SALKIN, supra note 177, §§ 2:06–08 (stating that villages and
towns have similar zoning authority since all of their authority comes through
the Municipal Home Rule Law).
(^194) N.Y. CONST. art IX, § 2(c)(10); see also MUN. HOME RULE § 10.
(^195) SALKIN, supra note 177, § 6:01.
(^196) See N.Y. STAT. LOCAL GOV’TS § 10(6) (McKinney 1994); MUN.
HOME RULE § 10.
(^197) See SALKIN, supra note 177, §§ 6:01–25.
(^198) See id. §§ 6:02–03.
(^199) See id. § 20:11 (citing Asian Am. for Equal. v. Koch, 527 N.E.2d
265 (N.Y. 1988)) (“The enabling acts of cities, towns and villages in New
York do not authorize zoning to exclude from the enacting municipality