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Posted on 03/04/2006 1:07:28 PM PST by Hurricane
I read this article as a heads up for folks on the gulf coast. It doesn't say much but doesn't have to. All folks have to do is go to the New Urbanism Website http://www.newurbanism.org/pages/416429/index.htm. I have been to one of these Charettes and they are loaded with Government controls on individual property.
A critique of the Smart Code which is the term used for New Urbanism can be found here http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~pgordon/urbanism.html
The problem here in Gulfport MS is that the elected officials(most of which are new) are too inexperienced to see the long range problems it poses for the people. I forsee a lot of Eminent Domain problems and cookie cutter neighborhoods at the expense of the folks.
Lot lines will be shrunk and deliberate densification will take place. It also is in effect a plan which allows two zoning ordinances, rewarding those who use the Smart Code with preferential treatment over those who use the existing code when submitting for approval.
Here is a link to some info. http://www.huduser.org/publications/pdf/smartcodes.pdf
I would like to get some discussion on this to better educate myself and the rest of the folks exposed to it. We're about to get this jammed down our throats in Gulfport, possibly Biloxi and New Orleans is in their sights.
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ALL zoning codes place restrictions on private property.
I don't see the problem. Nobody is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to buy in one of these planned communities. If you don't like them, don't buy there.
But a lot of people do like them, and if somebody wants to develop his land in this way, it wouldn't be right to stop them. After all, we're all in favor of individual property owners' rights here, aren't we?
I think the point is that to rebuild your home, it must correspond to the Smart Growth plan, or it will sit in regulatory limbo. They are, I suspect, trying to use eminent domain to take whole neighborhoods (which have been devastated by the storms) and have them redeveloped along Smart Growth plans. If you lived in a suburb devastated by Katrina, the Smart Growth people want zoning ordinances and building requirements changed so your neighborhood will be designed around pedestrian traffic and not automobiles and your lot size will be shrunk and your home turnedinto a townhome or condo-style structure. The idea is to turn low-density suburbia into high density urban living so urban sprawl stops and, possibly reverses. Take living in the Gulf coast area and make it like living in Manhattan Island.
Here is a problem. If you live in a 1 acre zone and someone wants to use the property next to you for an urban zone under the smart code, why have any zoning at all.
You are correct. It just doesn't apply to whole neighborhoods. It applies to small parcels as well. They call it infill. Can you remember the guy on Hannity? The property next to him began as infill and he wound up loosing his to eminent domain.
This is no different than existing zoning codes have always been. You cannot build (or rebuild) any old way you want.
The point is that the Smart Growth types want to change current building requirements to meet their socialist-lite agenda. So you had 2000 sq ft house on a nice lot. Now you can only build a 1000 sq ft house, your lot is narrowed to 1/3rd its size so 2 more 1000 sq ft homes can be squeezed in and share your laeft and right walls and you can't have a driveway or garage. They do not want you to rebuikld what you had, but something that conforms to their sense of what a community should look like.
My point is if there are two zoning ordinances for the same piece of property, then why have any at all. Which one will be the REAL zoning ordinance when an appeal goes to court.
Thanks for posting. The federal government use natural disasters to come in and fund "smart growth" european socialist land use plans. Free people in free countries do not need "charettes" to plan their communities. They need a respect for property rights, which "smart growth" abhors.
Do you know that the Smart Code will reduce the size of a person's lot? I haven't read anything which indicates that it does.
Also, existing zoning codes dicate the size house you can build on your lot. Footprint, overal square footage, height, etc. Not only that, some zonig codes dictate that you must farm a part of your lot, etc. Zoning codes, by their nature, are regulate what you can do/build on your lot.
Also, exisitn zoning codes restrict building what was there before when a building is damaged and destroyed. In fact, the most beloved historic buildings in most communnities would be ILLEGAL to build/rebuild under current zoning codes.
Sounds like to me you need to fight the whole concept of zoning.
Thats exactly what it looked like to me when I saw the details. The lady asked me if I would like to be able to walk to the neighborhood store. I told her that my wife's knees are bad and I prefer to drive to a store,easily park and get everything I need then go home and relax in my back yard.
The pictures they use to try to sell their program are quaint houses,shops, sidewalks all bundled together on a nice tree lined street with everything within walking distance. That's not what people want. I personally want space.
The denser things are the better a hurricane can ravage it.
Mississippi ping
Remember, a land use plan is nothing more than a never ending list of government restrictions and demands on private property, property, by the way, not owned by government. And the list will grow and grow.
Consider so-called smart growth as a lifetime employment act for planners and bureaucrats. The question, of course, is who elected them to plan our lives?
America has the perfect plan for people who want open space - buy it. America has an equally perfect solution for people who want to prevent sprawl - buy it. The American plan even allows communities to tax themselves to buy land. Forcing these amenities on property owners by restrictive, arbitrary zoning invites bad feelings and lawsuits.
Too many people forget that in America the individual is sovereign and is granted individual rights as a birthright. It’s in socialist countries that the “rights” of the collective group are superior to that of the individual. In socialist societies the individual must throw his dreams and desires out the window for the good of the group. In America freedom is about individual rights, not collective obligations.
We own rights in our property. In America, the property itself doesn’t have the rights, but the individual owns rights in his property. These include the right to develop, to sub-divide, to use, to manage, to sell, to be secure and to bar others entry.
These individual rights give power to the individual, not the collective group. Individual rights are designed to stop the state from selecting favored groups for special treatment at the expense of the individual or other groups. If any land plan doesn’t emphasize these basic individual rights, the plan is fatally flawed and must be thrown out.
I live so far out in the country I
doubt this will ever affect me.
If you run across how to get rid of armadillos
send me a link. :>)
I'm very familiar with zoning ordinances and what they can and cannot contain. I served on a zoning board for 12 years(not here in GPT) and have no problems with ordinances.
Most zoning ordinances state permitted uses within specific areas. They usually don't tend to densify a whole area but try to provide a balance of areas of different densities and uses so people can select the type of area in which they want to live.
The smart code(new urbanism) attempts reverse the trend to get away from urban areas and push them back to higher densified areas.
In addition they open the door further to appropriation of Infill property to eminent domain.
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