Lost Rights by James Bovard

Author:James Bovard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-03-01T16:00:00+00:00

But most cities restrict or prohibit the creation of accessory apartments in existing housing. Fairfax County, Virginia, announced that it would allow accessory apartments (sometimes called “granny flats”) in 1983—but imposed so many restrictions on the permit process that only thirty units were legally sanctioned in ten years. 136 The Prince William County, Virginia, Board of Supervisors formally rejected a proposal to permit accessory apartments for the elderly and handicapped; county planning director Roger Snyder explained, “If a house with an accessory unit were to come on the market, I think the buyer would have the idea to live for free by renting out the other half.” County zoning enforcement officer Sager Williams observed, “It does penalize those who want to do things right, but the enforcement problems would be overwhelming.” 137 The convenience of the regulators is now more important than the rights of the property owner.

Some of the same politicians who bewail the shortage of affordable housing routinely severely restrict the construction of apartments in their own domain. In Prince George’s County, Maryland, “less than 1 percent of the developable land is zoned for apartments, while in neighboring Montgomery County, only 2 percent of the developable land” is zoned for apartments. 138 The federal Advisory Commission on Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing (known as the Kemp Commission) reported in 1991 that zoning and other restrictions add up to 35 percent to the price of a new home. 139 The National Association of Home Builders estimates that government regulations knock over one million home buyers out of the market in the nation’s twenty-five largest metropolitan areas. 140 The state of California tried to counter the inflationary effects of zoning restrictions by imposing quotas for low-income housing for every community in California. The affluent communities of San Marino and Bradbury met the law’s requirements by classifying maid’s quarters and servant’s cottages as low-income housing. 141

Zoning advocates sometimes seem to glorify zoning’s arbitrariness. Sylvia Lewis, editor of Planning magazine, observed in a 1991 article, “You can think of planning as a giant Monopoly game—with the board representing all the land in town and the moves representing the rules of land-use law. But in real life, as opposed to the games, the rules are always changing.” 142 Zoning rules are binding only on citizens, not on governments, who can make hundreds of thousands of exemptions, variances, or revisions to their master plans each year. And because zoning officials in most states effectively have absolute immunity against lawsuits from property owners, there is little to restrain their creativity.

The reigning principle of legislation in the former Soviet Union was, “Everything is prohibited which is not specifically permitted.” 143 The American Planning Association recommends a similar rule to subjugate American citizens:

As a matter of legislative drafting, it is good practice to include a general ‘violations’ section in zoning regulations that, in part, says, “It shall be a violation of this ordinance to make any use of property not expressly permitted by this ordinance or a permit or other approval granted hereunder.

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