Posted on 07/31/2012 9:59:44 AM PDT by ArtDodger
Why Is Fauquier County, Virginia, Waging War Against Small Farmers? Posted on | July 29, 2012 | 23 Comments and 24 Reactions
Zoning is the closest thing to fascism most Americans will ever know, and it’s remarkable how local governments use zoning laws to limit the rights of the little guy while rewarding the wealthy and well-connected. Big developers who know how to work the system can almost always get whatever they want from zoning boards, while the small property owner is at the mercy of politicians and bureaucrats.
Property rights of small farmers are under assault in Fauquier County, Virginia, where a local farmer has fallen afoul of the Zoning Fascists:
Located on a 70-acre farm near the village of Paris, Virginia, about 50 miles west of Washington, D.C., the Piedmont Agriculture Academy LLC (PAA) has quickly become a fixture in the local community. PAA functions as both an animal-rescue farm and a place where people can buy the many products originating on the property. Some 168 animals have found shelter on the farm, including alpacas, llamas, emus, a miniature horse, and a vast assortment of chickens, goats, ducks, sheep, turkeys, and cows. Dozens of the well-maintained animals are sheered every year, and their fiber is hand-washed and sold as yarn, socks, scarves, gloves, and nest builders. This year, the farmers who founded PAA have planted nearly 2000 tomato plants and 1000 eggplants on the property and have set up an apiary for producing honey. A tastefully renovated barn serves as the farm’s on-site store, where vegetables, eggs, fresh and dried herbs, honeybee products, soaps, and handspun fibers from the livestock – all produced on the property – are sold to eager customers. But if the Fauquier County Department of Community Development (DCD) has its way, the farm may soon have to cease operating. In June, the Piedmont Agriculture Academy was served with a “Notice of Zoning Violation” from the DCD.
Basically, Martha Boneta’s attempt to run a small business on her property has been outlawed by a new ordinance that retroactively restricts land use under the business license she received last year.
Mark Fitzgibbons has written about the case at American Thinker. Rick Buchanan has written about the case at Right Side News. The Institute for Justice has weighed in on the case. There is a hearing on the case this Thursday in Warrenton, and the Northern Virginia Tea Party is calling on its members to turn out in force:
1 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 2 10 Hotel Street, Warrenton VA 20187
For more information, contact Rick Buchanan of the Fauquier County Tea Party: rick@fauquiercountyteaparty.com.
This particular county has a name problem too.
As distinct from Washington, DC where the government listens first to the non-productive minority group that issues the most credible threat to riot.
She has a product to sell. The public wants to buy.
No wonder the government is angry. How dare they?
What did they think this was, 20th Century America?
This is the United Socialist States of the Republic.
Get out of the way, bureaucrats are playing through.
Pretty much the same thing. Forbid you ever own a Virginia farm abutting one of these rich outsider’s horse farms. They’ll build a fancy new rich guy’s fence on the common boundary and send you a bill for half. If you complain about it the courts out there are prepared to say he can shoot you down.
Pretty much the same thing. Forbid you ever own a Virginia farm abutting one of these rich outsider’s horse farms. They’ll build a fancy new rich guy’s fence on the common boundary and send you a bill for half. If you complain about it the courts out there are prepared to say he can shoot you down.
...Fauquier...lots of possibilities there
If the author had put a period after "guy" and not written the rest of this paragraph he would be totally accurate; however, the balance of the paragraph is nonsense and exposes the author as one who has little experience with real estate development. It is very difficult for developers, rich or not, to get anything approved, especially in Fauquier County. The idea that developers can "almost always get whatever they want from zoning boards" is laughable. And often the landowner's interests and the developer's interests are aligned. The land poor farmer would love to be able to sell his tract to a developer for development, but is not able to do so because of the difficulty in getting things approved. The NIMBYs are the problem, of course. I haven't followed the case mentioned in this article, but I'm guessing a disgruntled neighbor is causing the ruckus.
Hope the D.C. Chapter of FR will turn out along with the Tea Parties of VA & NE WV.
That would be nice. I agree.
Here’s my story on small town zoning......
My parents house was built in 1948 2 miles esat of the small town of Newport in eastern North Carolina. My parents bought it from the builder (who had lived there) in 1952. My sister and I were raised there, and Dad passed away there.
The town of Newport provided fire department services to the area. In the 1990’s the town ran a water line out past the house. Shortly thereafter residents were allowed to tap into the water line and get “city water.” This seemed like a good thing since the ground water had so much iron rust in to that you either spent lots of money on water softening systems or everything (sinks, tubs, toilets) turned rust red.
Shortly thereafter the town moved its city limits to 1/2 mile east of my parent’s house, thereby incorporating all that area. Next, they rezoned. The house, that was my family’s residence for 50 years was rezoned “commercial.”
The upshot of this was that after my parents died, my sister or I could live there, but could not expand on the house. Neither of us live or work in the area. It could not be sold as a residence, only as commercial property. That actually brought the selling price down.
It was a beautiful house, well kept, with detached 3 car garage on a nice big lot.
Because someone is getting campaign contributions from large farmers?
Lots and lots~!
In my experience zoning is the single greatest cause of hypocrisy amoung "Conservatives."
Everyone hates zoning, believes every property owner should have completely free use of their own land for any activity....
Right up until the second before any of their NEIGHBORS does anything with their property that they don't like.
“Welcome to Fauquier County...Preserving Agriculture in a Business Friendly Community.” This slogan on all signs leading into Fauquier (fahkeer) County.
You couldn't be more right about that. Unfortunately, conservatives are just as capable of hypocrisy as libs. The music/video illegal downloading threads tend to be fairly interesting in that regard as well.
More acreage doesn't make this issue go away, but it does make it easier to figure out which hegemonic neighbor is using the gov't to harass you.
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