PREAMBLE
Ridgeland Zoning Ordinance § 2
in effectPREAMBLE
PREAMBLE
SECTION
2
WHEREAS, pursuant to its general police powers of municipalities as set forth
in Section 21-19-1(1) of the Mississippi Code of 1972, annotated, as amended, the City of
Ridgeland, Mississippi has the power and authority to make regulations to promote
and preserve the health, safety, morals and general welfare of its Citizens; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to the powers set forth in Section 21-17-5(1) of the
Mississippi Code of 1972, annotated, as amended, the City of Ridgeland, Mississippi has
“home rule authority” to govern and manage municipal affairs, as long as the
exercise of such powers is not inconsistent with the Mississippi Constitution, the
Mississippi Code or other statute or law of the State of Mississippi, and furthermore
the City of Ridgeland has “the power to alter, modify and repeal such orders,
resolutions or ordinances” as previously passed by the Mayor and Board of
Aldermen; and
WHEREAS, Section 21-17-5(1) of the Mississippi Code of 1972, annotated, as
amended, further provides that “the powers granted to governing authorities of
municipalities in this section are complete without the existence of or reference to
any specific authority granted in any other statute or law of the State of Mississippi”;
and
WHEREAS, the Laws of the State of Mississippi, Section 17-1-1 to 17-1-27,
inclusive, of the Mississippi Code of 1972, annotated, as amended, empower the City of
Ridgeland, Mississippi, to enact a Zoning Ordinance and to provide for its
administration, enforcement and amendment; and
WHEREAS, in order to promote the “health, safety, morals, or the general
welfare of the community,” pursuant to Section 17-1-3 of the Mississippi Code of 1972,
annotated, as amended, the City of Ridgeland, Mississippi is granted the specific
powers “to regulate the height, number of stories and size of building and other
structures, the percentage of lot that may be occupied, the size of the 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…”;
and
WHEREAS, Section 17-1-9 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, annotated, as amended,
states that "Zoning regulations shall be made in accordance with a comprehensive
plan, and designed to lessen congestion in the streets; to secure safety from fire,
panic, and other dangers; to provide adequate light and air; to prevent the
overcrowding of land; to avoid undue concentration of population; to facilitate the
adequate provision of transportation, water, sewerage, schools, parks, and other
public requirements.”; and
WHEREAS, Section 17-1-1 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, annotated, as amended,
defines the term "comprehensive plan" as "a statement of public policy for the
physical development of the entire municipality or county adopted by resolution of
the governing body, consisting of the following elements at a minimum: (1) Goals
and objectives for the long-range (twenty to twenty-five years) development of the
county or municipality…; (2) A land use plan …; (3) A transportation plan…; and
(4) A community facilities plan…"; and
WHEREAS, Section 17-1-1(c)(ii) of the Mississippi Code of 1972, annotated, as
amended, provides that the “land use plan” should “designate in map or policy form
the proposed general distribution and extent of the uses of land for residences,
commerce, industry, recreation and open space, public/quasi-public facilities and
lands”; and
WHEREAS, Section 17-1-11 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, annotated, as
amended, states that "the governing authority of each municipality … may provide
for the preparation, adoption, amendment, extension and carrying out of a
comprehensive plan for the purpose of bringing about coordinated physical
development in accordance with present and future needs and may create,
independently or jointly, a local planning commission with authority to prepare and
propose (a) a comprehensive plan of physical development of the municipality… ;
(b) a proposed zoning ordinance and map…; … and (e) recommendations to the
governing authorities of each municipality … with regard to the enforcement of and
amendments to the comprehensive plan [and] zoning ordinance, …”; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to Section 17-1-11, the Mayor and Board of Aldermen
have established such a planning commission; and
WHEREAS, the Mayor and Board of Aldermen on September 6, 1988, adopted
by resolution certain "Final Goals and Objectives" and a "Land Use/Thoroughfares
Plan" for that portion of the City of Ridgeland that is generally east of Interstate
Highway 55, as previously recommended by the Ridgeland Planning Commission
following public hearings relative to same; and
WHEREAS, the Mayor and Board of Aldermen on April 17, 1990, adopted by
resolution a "Land Use/ Thoroughfares Plan" for that portion of the City of
Ridgeland that is generally west of Interstate Highway 55, following a public hearing
relative to same; and
WHEREAS, the Mayor and Board of Aldermen on August 30, 1990, adopted by
resolution certain amendments to the Land Use/Thoroughfares Plan for that portion of
the City of Ridgeland that is generally east of Interstate 55, plus the expansion of the
plan to include certain land areas adjacent to the City both east and west of the
corporate limits as of that date, following a public hearing relative to same; and
WHEREAS, the Mayor and Board of Aldermen on November 5, 1991, adopted
by resolution a Community Facilities Plan as a basis for a capital improvements program
for the City of Ridgeland, following a hearing relative to same; and
WHEREAS, at the time, the Ridgeland Planning Commission recommended the
adoption of a Zoning Ordinance of the City of Ridgeland, Mississippi and an accompanying
Official Zoning Map; and
WHEREAS, based upon the recommendations of the Planning Commission
(now known as the Zoning Board), the Mayor and Board of Aldermen then divided
the City into districts and adopted regulations pertaining to such districts, and gave
reasonable consideration to, among other things, the character of the districts and
their particular suitability for particular uses, with a view to conserving the value of
property and encouraging the most appropriate use of land throughout the City; and
WHEREAS, in 2006, the community undertook the Ridgeland Area Master Plan
(RAMP), adopted by the City in 2008 and readopted by the successor administration
in 2009, which examined the long terms needs, goals, and strategic opportunities in
the City and a large area west of the city limits. This asset-based planning process
identified opportunities to strengthen Ridgeland’s quality of life, and recommended
changes to Ridgeland’s master land use plan; and
WHEREAS, in 2009, Ridgeland adopted an updated Comprehensive Plan,
reflecting in part the RAMP recommendations; and
WHEREAS, since the adoption of the 2009 plan nearly five years ago, a number
of significant changes have impacted Ridgeland, and will continue to do so for the
foreseeable future, including the adoption of a new transportation plan in 2012;
major ongoing upgrades to I-55; the building out of large scale developments such as
Renaissance at Colony Park bringing additional businesses and activity to the city;
and other major improvements in various stages of planning and implementation
such as Lake Harbour Drive and Colony Park Boulevard. These changes contribute
to the future development of the city, and require that Ridgeland update its land use
and transportation plans; and
WHEREAS, the Mayor and Board recognize that the purpose of adopting a new
comprehensive plan, a future land use plan and a new zoning ordinance in
accordance with the comprehensive plan is to direct, guide and bring about the
physical development and responsible growth of the City of Ridgeland, consistent
with the stated desires of its Citizens, as reflected in the public hearings conducted
on January 21, 2014 and in accordance with present and future needs; and
WHEREAS, following the aforesaid public hearing, the Mayor and Board of
Aldermen adopted a new Generalized Future Land Use and Transportation Plan;
and
WHEREAS, consistent with the information presented at the aforesaid public
hearing, the Mayor and Board of Aldermen find that significant changes have
occurred in the City of Ridgeland since the adoption of the current Zoning
Ordinance on February 6, 2001 and since the limited amendments to that ordinance
subsequently adopted, including amendments adopted on December 1, 2009; and
they further find that such amendments subsequent to the February 6, 2001 Zoning
Ordinance have not fully addressed the changes that are occurring, and that there
remains a substantial and fundamental need for amending the Zoning Ordinance in
light of those changes; and
WHEREAS, during the planning process, the Mayor and Board of Aldermen
with input from professional planners and extensive public input determined a major
problem currently confronting the City of Ridgeland’s city planners and zoning
authorities is that posed by nonconforming uses and structures (hereinafter
“Nonconformities”). Such Nonconformities reduce the effectiveness of the zoning
ordinance, increase the difficulty of conforming the City to its Zoning Map,
comprehensive plan and future land use plan, depress property values, and directly
contribute to urban blight. Such Nonconformities are a cause of residential and
commercial slums, traffic congestion, and other indicia of urban obsolescence; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to powers granted to the Mayor and Board of Aldermen
in Section 17-1-3, to promote the” health, safety, morals, or the general welfare of
the community,” the Mayor and Board desire to address the problems facing the City
of Ridgeland as set forth above, many of which relate directly and indirectly to “the
height, number of stories and size of building and other structures, the percentage of
lot that may be occupied, … the density of population, and the location and use of
buildings, structures and land for trade, industry, residence or other purposes”; and
WHEREAS, the Mayor and Board of Aldermen have determined that one of the
purposes of the new zoning ordinance is to establish a mechanism for terminating
nonconforming uses and structures; and
WHEREAS, the Mayor and Board recognize that following the adoption of a
new zoning ordinance that certain existing uses and structures no longer conform to
the dictates and parameters of the ordinance; and
WHEREAS, the Mayor and Board recognize that certain existing uses and
structures were nonconforming before the zoning ordinance went into effect and
remain nonconforming since the passage of the new zoning ordinance;
WHEREAS, the Mayor and Board further recognize that to achieve the goals of
the City as set forth in the comprehensive plan and in the future land use plan that it
must reduce nonconformance with the Zoning Ordinance– whether such
nonconformance was pre-existing to its zoning ordinance or nonconforming after
passage of the new zoning ordinance; and
WHEREAS, in order to promote the orderly, responsible, and beneficial
development and growth of the City of Ridgeland and ultimately to reduce
nonconformance to conformance as speedily as possible, the Mayor and Board of
Aldermen recognize the need for a mechanism to monitor nonconforming uses, and,
thus, have determined to implement a registration process for pre-existing
nonconforming uses and structures as well as penalties for non-registration of
nonconforming uses and structures; and
WHEREAS the Mayor and Board of Alderman recognize the importance to the
community of an adequate supply of dwelling spaces within the City, all of which
should conform to certain minimum standards of health, safety and environmental
conditions to promote the “health, safety, morals, or the general welfare of the
community,” pursuant to Section 17-1-3 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, annotated, as
amended; and
WHEREAS, the Mayor and Board are concerned that many apartment
complexes within the City of Ridgeland do not provide safe or code compliant
housing for its Citizens, and, in many cases, such unsafe and non-code compliant
dwelling units in the City pose an actual threat to the health, safety, and welfare of
the Citizens of Ridgeland living within such units; and
WHEREAS, the Mayor and Board have identified unsafe, densely populated,
and/or non-code compliant dwelling units in the City as constituting one of the
City’s greatest problems for its Citizens; these structures are not of adequate size
and/or exceed the population density limits, and/or lack adequate sized yards, courts
or open spaces; their uses are inconsistent with the newly adopted comprehensive
plan and future land use plan, and, thus, have resulted in overcrowded, slum-like
conditions, urban blight and a general deterioration of residential areas and should be
brought into conformance with the City’s ordinance; and
WHEREAS, the Mayor and Board, pursuant to the lawful exercise of the City’s
statutorily granted powers to adopt a zoning ordinance, its police power, and home
rule authority, have determined to return nonconformance to conformance by
ending nonconforming uses and structures, establishing uniform standards and
criteria for remedying the problem of nonconforming uses and structures, within a
reasonable time, and in so doing, incorporate the concepts of equity necessary to
avoid or reduce economic harm to those who either own nonconforming structures
or own structures that engage in nonconforming uses or to protect the Citizens who
may reside in these structures;
WHEREAS, the Mayor and Board also recognize that enactment of this
amendment to the zoning code may create practical difficulties or unusual hardships
and have taken steps to provide classes of nonconformities and to allow for an
amortization period by which certain nonconformities must be terminated, thereby
allowing owners, where applicable, to recoup their investment in the structure.
WHEREAS, the Mayor and Board of Aldermen have given due public notice of
a hearing relating to said zoning ordinance and map and have held a public hearing
in accordance with the requirements of Section 17-1-15 of the Mississippi Code of
1972, annotated, as amended: and
WHEREAS, the City’s consideration of this new Zoning Ordinance has
complied with the procedural requirements of Section 17-1-1 et seq. for adopting a
new zoning ordinance or amendments to an existing ordinance. Likewise, the Mayor
and Board of Aldermen find that the process has substantially complied with the
procedural requirements of the current ordinance by, among other things, providing
notice to the public and an opportunity to be heard, and that under the City’s long-
standing practice, parcel-specific requirements in the current Zoning Ordinance do
not apply to City-initiated revisions such as this comprehensive amendment; and
WHEREAS, after conducting the hearing on the proposed amendments to this
Ordinance, and upon recommendation of the Zoning Board, the Mayor and Board
of Aldermen have determined that certain changes in response to comments at the
hearing are in order, but that such changes are minor and merely formal and do not
constitute an enlarged restraint or a material change to the proposed amendments
advertised for public hearing:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE MAYOR AND BOARD OF
ALDERMEN OF THE CITY OF RIDGELAND, MISSISSIPPI, THAT THIS
ORDINANCE SHALL GOVERN THE USE OF ALL LAND WITHIN THE
CORPORATE LIMITS OF RIDGELAND, MISSISSIPPI.
Source: Official City of Ridgeland published zoning PDFURL: https://www.ridgelandms.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Official-Zoning-Ordinance-Codified-2026_0507-2.pdf#page=5Fetched: 11/14/2026