Wednesday, October 4, 2006

Avoid the quicksand of Proposition 2


By Len Harlig

Blaine County has a very desirable quality of life, and it can also have a prosperous future, but only if Proposition 2 is defeated this November.

When you vote "No" on Prop. 2, you will prevent the sinking of your neighborhood or farm into the quicksand of out-of-state-funded speculator enrichment. When you vote "No" on Prop. 2, you'll also prevent the destruction of your neighborhood and livelihood, stop the loss of your own property value, and prevent the loss of your quality of life.

For 30 years, Blaine County and its cities have had comprehensive plans and zoning ordinances that were approved through the local public hearing process. For 30 years those regulations have enabled our county to successfully grow from 5,000 people in 1975 to 24,000 people today. After 30 years, and in spite of that substantial population growth, we still have one of the best places on earth to live, recreate, raise our children, and work. For 30 years, zoning in Blaine County has stood on safe and solid ground. Prop. 2 seeks to substitute quicksand for the solid ground of state and local land-use regulation.

For 30 years we have elected local leaders who believe in comprehensive plans and ordinances; and, in those rare instances when the leaders didn't carry out their responsibilities to the voters' satisfaction, we went to the polls and recalled them, or we elected someone who would follow the plans and ordinances. After 30 years, as voters, we still have the power of choice over elected officials and an opportunity to have our say in public hearings about all land-use applications. We have that right under current Idaho land-use law and through the protection of the Idaho court system. Prop. 2 seeks to substitute quicksand in place of current state law, the courts, public hearings, and local elections. The result would be zoning chaos and huge monetary claims against the cities and county that would have to be paid by increased property taxes.

Everything wonderful about Blaine County today is a result of these last 30 years of far-sighted planning tools. All the prosperity, increased land value, cultural and recreational assets, resort guest visits, and the desirability of our area for visitors and residents has been possible only because we have followed sound zoning principles and avoided the quicksand anarchy of "anything goes" development. You will throw all this away unless you vote "No" on Prop. 2. Unless you vote "No" on Prop. 2, local land-use decisions will be made by speculators and their attorneys. Unless you vote "No" on Prop. 2 you will end up paying your tax dollars to speculators and their lawyers when speculators are allowed to get away with the wrong uses in the wrong places. Or you'll have to pay them whatever they claim it is worth not to build it.

Prop. 2 will make it possible for Sempra or any large-scale energy company to build a coal-fired energy plant in Blaine County. Prop. 2 will make it possible to build a 50,000 hog-feeding plant anywhere in Blaine County. Do you remember the stench the last time you drove Highway 75 toward Twin Falls? Can you imagine the stench and the air quality here in our community if you sink into the quicksand of Prop. 2?

Prop. 2 will make it possible for land speculators to insist that Blaine County and its cities allow such speculative development as 20-story apartment or condominium projects, anywhere they want, regardless of the present residential or commercial zoning regulations that have protected you from such conflicting uses for the past 30 years. Can you feel yourself sinking into the quicksand of conflicting and unregulated land use? Prop. 2 seeks to substitute quicksand for the stability of present and future zoning regulations.

Supporters of Prop. 2, an initiative funded by out-of-state speculators, claim that the issue is one of eminent domain: to prevent local government from taking your private property and giving your private property to some wealthy developer. Idaho already has a new law that prevents such deplorable actions from taking place. There is no need for Prop. 2 as it is described in the November ballot question. Prop. 2 is a sham eminent domain ruse to hide its real intent. The real intent of Prop. 2 is to prevent the enactment of new land-use regulation and prevent the enforcement of any present land-use regulation.

Prop. 2 will remove the ability of cities and counties to regulate land use. Please don't be "taken-in" by the rhetoric or the private property right arguments: Prop. 2 is just about enhancing the private property rights of a few people who don't want zoning regulations to apply to them personally, regulations that apply to all of us, and they are willing to sacrifice our private property rights and our tax dollars to enrich their own bank accounts. Real Idahoans reject this deceptive initiative and don't want New York outsiders deciding land use for Idaho.

Some supporters claim that Prop. 2 only applies to new ordinances, but that isn't true. The devious wording of Prop. 2 opens the door for litigation on all regulation: past, present, and future. You'd expect supporters of Prop. 2 to make a false claim because if they admitted the truth or if their ballot question was worded truthfully, very few people would vote for it. The real intent of Prop. 2 is to confuse and deceive voters and prevent the enactment of new land-use regulation and prevent the enforcement of any present land-use regulation. Prop. 2 seeks to substitute quicksand for existing zoning as well as future zoning.

Please vote "No" on Prop. 2 and keep Blaine County out of the quicksand. Vote "No" on Prop. 2 and keep us on solid ground. Vote "No" on Prop. 2 and allow our elected leaders to protect the property of all of us with time-tested land-use zoning principles. Don't turn over our future to out-of-state speculators who are trying to buy Idaho and sell it to the highest bidder.

Don't build your future on quicksand. There is no future in it.

Len Harlig is a former Blaine County Commission member who lives north of Ketchum.




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