Lord Jim wrote:Gee whiz, from some of the posts here you'd think this guy was some sort of unscrupulous real estate mogul, buying up land zoned for agriculture so he could convert it to tract home communities on the cheap and behind the backs of the local citizenry...
Rather than a real farmer who dared to build a home for himself on his own land without going to the local poobahs to beg them to allow him to build a house for himself on his own land....
Which is the real story...
No it most definitely is not, but nice try at hiding the ball. Plus, what I said about the price of the land was to underscore that he KNEW the land was non-buildable for residences.
Zoning promotes orderly development. It allows like to go with like. It provides for designated green space and parks and open space. And, btw, it's been a valid use of municipal police powers since the 20s. If you want to live in a community, you play by the rules. Otherwise, go buy your land and build your house somewhere there isn't any zoning.
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké
That's zoning at its best. But at its worst its just a system to keep the "undesirables" (pick whatever group you want) out of our neighborhoods by requiring big, expensive houses on big lots. That's been around since the 20s as well. And I think that was of the major factors behind creating zoning ordinances.
The courts addressed exclusionary zoning in the 60s and 70s and the concept has mostly gone the way of the dodo. Modern zoning is nothing like the zoning from the 20s, and most states have updated zoning laws. Municipalities too, of course. We are constantly drafting zoning petitions here.
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké
And redlining isn't zoning. In fact, it's perpetrated by commercial businesses. Those entities LJ worships and claims are far superior to government.
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké
rubato wrote:Zoning laws are the only reason that someone cannot build a slaughterhouse across the street from your house and render* your property valueless.
Guinevere wrote:The courts addressed exclusionary zoning in the 60s and 70s and the concept has mostly gone the way of the dodo. Modern zoning is nothing like the zoning from the 20s, and most states have updated zoning laws. Municipalities too, of course. We are constantly drafting zoning petitions here.
It's been addressed, but not remedied, and many efforts to promote equal access of all to areas have been rolled back. Many states/municipalities still use zoning that way. It's been a long time since NJ's Mount Laurel decision and, except for forcing a few municipalities to accept cluster housing in exchange for offering a few affordable units (many of them reserved for seniors, the least objectionable of the poor and moderate income persons), not much has been done with the racial and socioeconomic divisions brought on by this sort of zoning.
and akin to this sort of zoning, the USSC endorsed municipalities to use eminent domain and take affordable housing away from residents for the benefit of corporations--another way of strengthening this divide.
As I see it, land use laws are more often used abusively than beneficially.
No. You're absolutely wrong about this, and I work on these issues - especially affordable housing - regularly.
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké
The builder of this "castle" and I share a common belief: It's easier to get forgiveness than it is to get permission.
But sometimes it doesn't work out well.
Many years ago I was pouring a driveway (for which I had a permit), and there were a few yards of extra concrete on the truck, so we quickly formed up a few section of sidewalk (for which we didn't have a permit). The Building Inspector forced us to tear up and remove the offending sidewalk, even though it was completely "to code."
Guinevere wrote:No. You're absolutely wrong about this, and I work on these issues - especially affordable housing - regularly.
Well Guin, I can say it's not working in New Jersey, but if it is in Massachusetts I will defer to your knowledge of that state. In NJ the inner cities are still primarily populated by the economically disadvantaged and non whites; whites, and especially wealthier whites still primarily populate the suburbs. Economic exclusionary zoning is still the order of the day. My area is still zoned for 1+ acre lots, and I don't see that changing (although they did build a senior citizen housing complex on the only developable land in the area about 7 years ago.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts
