July 29, 2004

Zoning Laws Backfire

My dad and I have always had a friendly disagreeement about zoning laws. I don't like them because they violate the property rights I think landowners ought to have. If you own a piece of land, you ought to be able to do what you want to with it. My dad's reasoning for zoning laws has been that they prevent your neighbor from doing something that offends you. His classic example has been, "What happens when you buy a some land and then your neighbor puts in a pig farm?"

Now that example has backfired. A man in the Florida panhandle, Scott Teston, wanted to rezone his land from agriculture to business; his neighbors complained to the zoning board, and the change was rejected. So he decided to put 17 pigs in his yard, which the neighbors are, of course, complaining about. This time the county can't stop him, because he's in an agricultural zone. He's resubmitted his zoning request and has warned his neighbors that if it's rejected again, the number of pigs will go up to 500.

Good for him! The government doesn't need to be telling you what you can and can't do with your land.

Posted by Blog Jones at July 29, 2004 10:30 AM | Category: Politics

Comments

And you'd honestly being saying "good for him" if your neighbor started a pig farm next door to you? What if he decided to open a gay bar in his house? You know, The Lonely Boys' Leather Lounge?

If you say, that'd be fine, I'll certainly admire your consistency. If not, tsk, tsk!

;)

Posted by: Bob at July 29, 2004 03:21 PM

No, but I wouldn't be complaining about him setting up a business in the first place.

A gay bar on the other hand would be illegal under my city's laws, I'm pretty sure; I know strip clubs are. But if gay bars were legal and my next door neighbor started one, I'd probably move.

One of my goals is to eventually buy a few acres of land and build a house in the center of it so that I don't have any next door neighbors. Prevents all kinds of nasty problems.

Posted by: Blog Jones at July 29, 2004 11:19 PM

Good answer!

I was gonna say the city's laws were irrelevant 'cos I'm asking for *your* position, but you did answer, subsequent to that.

I appreciate your consistency, even if I disagree with your politics. Glad BJU's turning out some folks that think at least *a little* differently from the rest of the fold!

Posted by: Bob at August 2, 2004 04:48 PM
Due to the proliferation of comment spam, I've had to close comments on this entry. Sorry. Spammers ruin it for everybody. If you really, really want to add a comment to this entry, email me.