The prime tool of planning is land use control, most commonly referred to as zoning. The purposes of zoning are many, but foremost among these purposes are:

To promote and protect the public health, safety, morals, comfort and general welfare of the people;

To divide the City of Calumet City into zones or districts restricting and regulating therein the location, erection, construction, reconstruction, alteration and use of buildings, structures, and land for residence, business manufacturing and other specified uses;

To provide adequate light, air, privacy and conveniences of access to property;

To protect the character and the stability of the residential, business, and manufacturing areas within the City of Calumet City and to promote the orderly and beneficial development of such areas;

To regulate the intensity of use of lot areas, and to determine the area of open spaces surrounding buildings, necessary to provide adequate light and air, and to protect the public health;

To establish building lines and the location of buildings designed for residential, business and manufacturing, or other uses within such areas;

To fix reasonable standards to which buildings or structures shall conform therein;

To prohibit uses, buildings or structures incompatible with the character of development or intended uses within specified zoning districts;

To prevent additions to or alteration or remodeling of existing buildings or structures in such a way as to avoid the restrictions and limitations imposed hereunder;

To limit congestion in the public streets and protect the public health, safety, convenience and general welfare by providing for the off-street parking of motor vehicles and the loading and unloading of commercial vehicles;

To protect against fire, explosion, noxious fumes and other hazards in the interest of the public health, safety, comfort and general welfare;

To prevent the overcrowding of land and undue concentration of structures, so far as is possible and appropriate in each district, by regulating the use and bulk of buildings in relation to the land surrounding them;

To conserve the taxable value of land and buildings throughout the City of Calumet City;

To provide for the elimination of nonconforming uses of land, buildings and structures which are adversely affecting the character and value of desirable development in each district.

And to define and limit the powers and duties of the administrative officers and bodies as provided herein.

(Code 1980, App. B, § II)