Town Planning Commission Explores the Limits of Police Power for Planning and Zoning at Work Session

As Front Royal and Warren County prepare to reflect upon and celebrate the savior this year, what was true in 1 A.D. is just as true now: power displays itself in the most unexpected ways. And it is not always welcome.

The Town Planning Commission, minus two members, meets for a work session on Wednesday, December 3, in the evening. Royal Examiner Photo Credits: Brenden McHugh.

At a work session of the Town Planning Commission on Wednesday, December 3, the commissioners reflected on the limits of power in planning and zoning, which is frequently the most unwelcome character at one’s front door. Their goal was to delineate between civil and criminal violations and update the ordinance to reflect the most appropriate expression of planning and zoning power.

One might ask why P&Z is necessary. The Supreme Court certainly thought it was necessary in 1926 when, in Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., it invested planning and zoning with police power. “You’re right, we’re not police,” Planning Director Lauren Kopishke replied to Town Attorney George Sonnett on Wednesday night as he attempted to keep the commissioners focused on regulation of hotel and motel use and himself tangentially asked a rhetorical question about the limits of P&Z’s enforcement mechanism. Will the zoning administrator become a police officer? As Kopishke emphasized, they do not carry guns and do not have the same authority to address criminal violations that police officers do. Thus, while a prostitution ring operating in a local hotel is an illegal use that should concern P&Z, the police investigate and address such a thing, not P&Z.

But one would much rather see P&Z enforcement officer Daniel Wells at the front door than Chief of Police Brian Whited. After all, the FRPD is very busy with graver concerns than someone’s failure to keep the grass below a certain height. So, when puzzling over the phrase “police power”, perhaps it is most accurate to say that the police back P&Z in everything it does. Compliance is rewarded with cessation of intervention, while non-compliance may lead to harsher measures involving the police. Both departments are certainly a team in which information flows back and forth.

Click here to watch the Front Royal Planning Commission Meeting of December 3, 2025.