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The Seven Lies of Zoning

by Gregory Allan

Bad ideas, like bad pennies, always seem to turn up again and again.
Far from settled, the People of Giles county are once again facing the
question of whether to accept countywide zoning.

Zoning is one of those ideas that seems more complicated than it is.
Most people think zoning helps the community control land, but it doesn't.
Zoning is a way for a few elite people in the county to control everyone
else. Zoning is "people control."

It's so simple. Just as Esau sold his birthright for pottage, so may
Giles' people sell their land and homesteads for lies. Identify and expose
those lies, and maybe we can avoid tragedy.

Lie #1: "Zoning will protect us from pollution and noise."

This lie is easy to expose. We already have laws to punish people who
damage other peoples' property and disturb the peace. No additional laws
are necessary. I have seen many examples where zoning actually helped
corporations do things they could not have done without zoning in place.
The "will of the community," although opposed, was powerless because
they'd given all their power to the zoning board. I've never seen one of
them stopped by zoning.

Truth: Zoning helps persons with enough money, do things for which
they would otherwise be punished by existing laws.

Lie #2: "My neighbor will have to clean up the junk in his
yard."

As with many really effective lies, this one is couched in a
half-truth. This particular lie works really well. Most of us have a
neighbor or two with a lot of unsightly junk we'd like to see cleaned up.

Trouble is, once the precedent is set for forcing people to clean up
their property, the only question is where to set the standard. We all
know that everything government does is a one-way ratchet. Have you ever
known the real tax-rate to go down, or seen a single bad law repealed?
Zoning boards, like other government bureaucracies, always gain more power
over time.

Face it: a zoning board is nothing but a pack of thieves; a "goon
squad."

People who live under zoning are familiar with the “red tag.” When they
see one stuck on their property it means they have only a few days to
comply, or face a stiff fine. In the beginning, only the worst junk is
"red-tagged." But after their first pass through the county, the Goon
Squad must raise its standards for what they consider "junk," or put
themselves out of work. In ten or fifteen years anything in your yard, no
matter how neatly stacked, may be classified as junk. Any car in your yard
that doesn't have a current license plate will have to be removed or you
will be fined and sent a towing bill. You'll receive no payment for your
lost treasure.

Like it or not, that "junk" car or tractor in your neighbor's yard has
a value. Under zoning, sentimental value is irrelevant; plans he may have
had to restore it and sell it for a higher price someday are gone. No one
else in the county will buy it because they also fear the Goon Squad. If
he sells it at all it will be for much less than its true value, but it
will probably go for scrap. There's no way around it folks, that man's
property was stolen.

Truth: Zoning makes it legal to steal peoples' property. Zoning
boards are made up of thieves, and everyone who supports them is an
accomplice.

Lie #3: "Zoning will raise my property value."

Another half-truth. Under zoning, permit fees are raised and building
codes are made more restrictive. All this costs money. It becomes much
more expensive to build new structures. Supply and demand then forces up
the price of existing structures.

If you're not planning on selling your home, you can look forward to
higher property taxes. Just as others have found under zoning, Giles
county property owners who are currently paying between $400 and $800
yearly can expect to start shelling out $1,200 to $2,500 within a few
short years. You need only look as far as Maury county to see this trend
in action.

If you plan to build a new barn, garage, or make some other
improvement, be prepared to comply with the Goon Squad's new rules, and
pay 50% to 100% more to finish the project-- that is assuming that the
Goons approve it at all (much less likely than you may think). Unless of
course you have enough money to bribe the Goons, but that's illegal so
we're supposed to pretend it doesn't happen.

If you're planning to sell your home, you might want to do it quickly,
before zoning goes into effect. "But what about that higher property value
I'm expecting," you ask? Many Goon Squads require that a house be brought
up to current "code" before it can be sold. Even with its newly inflated
value, the expense of upgrading might make it more cost-effective to tear
it down and rebuild.

But be careful about tearing down existing buildings. Although they are
always grandfathered in areas where they violate new regulations, if the
building is torn down or "accidentally" burns, the Goon Squad will almost
certainly prohibit your building another structure, even if it's intended
for the same use as the one it replaces. Scores of family businesses are
lost this way.

Truth: Zoning raises the value of your property by raising the cost
of everything.

Lie #4: "If we don't get county-wide zoning my property will lose
value."

Nobody wants to admit it, but none of us really owns land. Each year we
must pay property tax on "our" land. If we don't pay the tax, then the
county takes it away and sells it to someone else. So let's call it what
it is: rent.

So long as we pay our yearly rent we can do pretty much what we want
with the land. But under zoning, the landlord will write a book of rules
to tell us what we can and cannot do with "our" land. It will grow thicker
every year with more rules enacted "for your own good." It no longer
matters what you plan, as your planning will now be done by the Goon
Squad.

Imagine a bundle of sticks. Each stick represents a single right you
have in your land. Grouped together, the bundle is your total right of
ownership. The right to keep your land without rent doesn't belong to you,
that stick already belongs to the county.

Now let's say that "Joe" wants to mine phosphate on your land. If you
agree, Joe gets some of the sticks in your bundle. If Joe finds phosphate,
he'll be able to come and go as he pleases; build roads as needed; cut
trees; tear up the surface to get the phosphate underneath; sell all the
phosphate that he finds; and leave behind a mess when he's finished. While
he has those rights, your own use of the land is limited: you can't do
anything which might interfere with Joe's operation, and you can't keep
any of the phosphate for yourself.

Some people discover this isn't such a good deal. Others may be
satisfied. After all, they are paid at the time the contract is signed,
and they're also paid a percentage of the profit from the phosphate. A
parcel of land just west of Pulaski was mined for phosphate. I hope the
owner made money on the deal, because anyone can see the land is worthless
now to everyone but snakes and coyotes.

Compare zoning with this model: You lose rights in your land; Goons
decide how the land is used; if you can't use it for what you want then
the land (to you) is now essentially worthless. The big difference? You
don't even get paid! That's right folks, you surrendered your rights for
nothing. You didn't even bring home a handfull of magic beans.

But there is still hope! The county will sell back some rights, one at
a time, in the form of a permit. And if you want to do something that's
against the Goon Squad's rules, you can apply for a variance. If you're
politically connected you'll have no problem getting one. What, you don't
own any politicians? No problem-- if you have lots of money. The wealthy
buy variances all the time. They hire local attorneys to handle this for
them. Attorneys know this, which is why they are nearly all in favor of
zoning.

Truth: The only value land has to us is in its use. If we lose the
right to decide how land is used, then it has lost value.

Lie #5: "Other people may be effected by zoning, but not me."

I have to say it: This one is just plain stupid. Unless you are an
actual member of the Goon Squad, or you are one of a half-dozen people in
the county rich enough to own your own Goon (you know who you are), then
you too will lose your property rights. Everyone who is in favor of zoning
thinks it will be the other guy who loses his rights. By the time they see
the truth, it's too late.

Truth: Zoning benefits the very wealthy, the very privileged, and
the bureaucrats who administer the system. Everyone else suffers.

Lie #6: "The county will change for the worse if we don't adopt
zoning."

One thing is certain: with or without zoning, the county will change.
Everything always does. Every person I've met in Giles county has always
been polite to me, and for the most part you are all polite to each other.
There are not many places I can say that about. Giles has been a county
since 1810. That's 192 years, and in all that time, the sky has not
fallen. But it has never before been burdened with the weight of zoning. I
know from considerable experience that zoning will be bad for Giles county
and its people.

Truth: Once you've lost your freedom of choice, it's too late to
change your mind.

Lie #7: “I still own my land even if I must pay yearly rent to keep
it, and can't decide how it's used.”

I'll admit it: even the pro-zoners don't tell that lie. It's so
obviously false that it might actually help their victims see the truth.
But this is the Big Lie that Lies #1-6 are supposed to lead you to
believe.

Selling the right to decide how your land is used in exchange for empty
promises of security, then claiming the sale has somehow "added value," is
exactly like taking a dollar out of your pocket, tearing off one corner,
giving the rest to a stranger, then trying to explain to your kids how the
corner you have left is really worth $2. Even kids know that only the
bigger piece will spend. You can try this at home. Put a piece in each
hand and offer any kid his choice. See which one he picks.

The yearly rental-tax makes the county the true legal owner of your
land. There are only two other main sticks in the bundle: The right of
use, and the right to sell. Under zoning the county has two sticks to your
one. Where is the added value in that?

Truth: Whoever has the most sticks in a bundle of rights is the real
owner.

Do you normally hand your wallet to strangers for safekeeping? Trust
lawyers with blank checks? Have you given the county a duplicate housekey,
or the deed to your land? If you're in favor of zoning then you may as
well answer "yes" to all the above.

Under zoning, if you want to own a home, raise a family, or run a
business, you'll have to do it the Goons' way or not at all. That's
people-control. I'd prefer to think you have enough sense to manage your
own affairs, as I insist on the right to manage mine. If not, maybe you'd
like to buy some Florida swampland, or Enron stock? Or maybe you'd be in
favor of zoning?

Reprinted from The
Giles Free Press, August 15, 2002, with permission of the author;
Copyright 2002, Gregory Allan, All Rights Reserved. Permission to reprint
is granted on the condition that a copy of the publication in which the
reprint appears is sent to The Lawful Path. For contact information,
please visit http://www.lawfulpath.com/.

(Isaiah 33:22) For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our
lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us.

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