Our communities have successfully developed smart
solutions to avoid foreseeable nightmares from sprawl, traffic and
other infrastructure limitations (HCN,
11/26/07). Across the West, new affronts to a legacy of urban
planning are now emerging in response to these successes. Arizona’s
“wildcat” subdivisions are one remarkable example, and last year’s
so-called “takings” initiatives another. Thanks in part to the
early warning from HCN, we got the word out to
California voters, who soundly defeated our version of Proposition
207.
In Santa Cruz County, Calif., our new planning
director has recently proposed permitting the construction of up to
three “outbuildings,” two stories high and containing a toilet, on
each single-family lot. The impact on our rural mountain
communities – their traffic, sewage and water supplies – would be
devastating. As with the takings initiatives, these proposals would
effectively overturn four decades of land-use controls and nine
decades of zoning regulation. These new regulations are also
attempting to avoid all environmental review.
I’m sure
Jon Regner was well-intentioned in his bid to buy his house in what
soon became a historic preservation district. What Jon may need to
realize is that personal freedom is not the only legacy of the
American West; personal responsibility and community coordination
also were necessary elements for survival on the frontier.
Private-property rights do not trump the rights of a community to
shape its future.
Gary Lasky
Santa Cruz,
California
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Personal freedom, personal responsibility.
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