Zoning and Tyranny

The following article was published in the July 15, 2009 issue of The North Country Bulletin in Chama, New Mexico.

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Imagine that you want to add a deck to the back of your house. You want to have a peaceful spot to relax and enjoy the view. It’s your home, and as we have often heard, “your home is your castle”.

But not under zoning. Under zoning, you can be forced to seek permission to build a deck, or add a fence, or remodel your kitchen, or any other use of your property. Under zoning, your home and your business is not your castle—it is under the complete control of zoning officials. Consider these horror stories:

• The city council of Manassas, Virginia, passed a zoning ordinance that restricts residence in households to immediate relatives, thus excluding aunts, nephews, cousins and other members of the extended family—and the council acknowledged that the ordinance targeted Hispanics, who apparently were not wanted in the area.

• In Princeton, New Jersey, after a zoning ordinance banned displaying anything in storefronts except for books, flowers, plants, vegetables, and newspapers, a hardware store owner was threatened with a jail sentence for defying the ordinance by displaying barbecue grills in his storefront.

• In Fairfax, Virginia, John Thoburn was jailed and fined $1,000 a day because he refused to meet mandates issued by zoning officials. After meeting initial demands that he plant more than 700 trees on his golf course, zoning officials arbitrarily decreed that he plant another 50 trees and 124 shrubs.

Such ridiculous mandates may not be emanating from Chama’s zoning officials, but in principle there is no reason that they won’t. I suspect that it is safe to say that the citizens of Manassas, Princeton, and Fairfax did not expect zoning officials to pass the types of restrictions listed above when zoning was first enacted in those communities. But the citizens granted that power, and in time, certain types of individuals sought that power for their own nefarious ends. If you grant to others the power to dictate how you use your property, you have no grounds to complain when you do not like their dictates.

Under zoning, you must seek the permission of zoning officials before you use your property. And if you do not meet their demands, you become a criminal and can be fined, thrown in jail, or both. All because you wanted to build a deck.

If you believe that your home is your castle, if you believe that you have a moral right to use your property as you choose (so long as you do not violate the mutual rights of others), then you should support the abolishment of zoning in Chama.