Comments on: Tea Partying at Planning Meetings

By: City Comforts, the blog

City Comforts, the blog — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 20:51:44 +0000

Replace Zoning with a Business Improvement District?…

Tea Partying at Planning Meetings | Market Urbanism UPDATE: Besides equity and the central issue of environmental quality, I left this comment at Market Urbanism: …my major concern about the idea of “…likewise provide a regulated built environment…

By: David Sucher

David Sucher — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 00:40:00 +0000

Btw, my major concern about the idea of “…likewise provide a regulated built environment through voluntary private contracts.” is NOT that I don’t like the idea. In fact it’s fine. The “least intrusive means” should be always kept in mind. The only issue for me is the huge transaction costs which, I believe, make private agreements for land use quite impossible. Thed very reason we have government is because “voluntary private contracts” are too complex. We got rid of tort law (as to land use) because it was much easier to have uniform area-wide regulations.

By: Consensus and Astroturf | Pedestrian Observations

Consensus and Astroturf | Pedestrian Observations — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 03:38:07 +0000

[…] of the issue of the attitude toward public debate has already been covered elsewhere. Emily Washington does a good job at demolishing the pretense that the Tea Party is consistently against government […]

By: Emily Washington

Emily Washington — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:16:00 +0000

This is a great point. In talking about free market urban development, I find it easy to wander into utopian visions without sticking to specific policy recommendations. If I were in the lawmaking business (or law repealing business, rather), I would propose a phase out of zoning rather than an abrupt elimination. I think that a great place to start would be removing parking minimums and maximums. Next up might be getting rid of huge setback requirements. As zoning was eliminated over a period of time, I think it’s likely that private governance like BIDs would play an increasingly important role in shaping urban form, but I don’t want to suggest that I know what the world would look like in the counterfactual free market world.

By: Charlie Gardner

Charlie Gardner — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 02:17:00 +0000

An incidental loss in property value due to to someone else’s lawful act is not an invasion of any property “right.” The economy could hardly function if that principle were followed. Nuisance law is not a guarantor of values, but rather operates to protect others’ exercise of their rights to use their own property. For instance, if my factory produces loud noises at all hours of the day next to your house, I’ve deprived you of your right to use it as a residence. That right may be absolute: courts can grant an injunction rather than assessing damages. Still, it’s a narrow remedy. The problem is not really the activity in my factory, but the noise it is making. If in response I sound-proof the walls, invest in better equipment, and the noise levels drop, the nuisance is abated.

I always use as a starting point the three basic rights that courts have most often mentioned: the right to acquire property, the right to alienate it, and the right to freely use it subject to the limits Emily has mentioned. I’d argue there is plenty of room for regulation left here without directly infringing on any of these three.

By: Guest

Guest — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 16:51:00 +0000

I really don’t understand what the point of this article is. Is planning a good thing? Should it be done in “moderation?” I don’t also understand the point of this quote: “Traditional planning, at least as top down as Smart Growth, has shaped his or her presumably suburban neighborhood.”

First off, not necessarily, and secondly is this a good thing? Or do you think the “activist” would think it’s a good thing? I don’t necessarily agree with that. People are not as stupid as you may think.

By: Sid Burgess

Sid Burgess — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 07:06:00 +0000

To add what David and Anon256 have already chimed in:

What about all the externalities of development? Should a land-owner be allowed to build anything they want if the result of that development would directly tax adjoining infrastructure? If I build a large parking garage, I will be encouraging thousands of cars to now use the fronting road. It seems there need to be some kind of legal mechanism for recognizing some developments that have usual needs. Sure, there are impact fees, but if the property is so poorly built or used, then when the property never is productive, it is a net loss to the community when maintenance is due (long after the impact fees have been collected and spent). I think my biggest issue with the Harm principal is it relies on individuals having the actual ability to sue (and win) when their property is being harmed. If Wal-Mart buys the “back twenty” and builds a distribution facility and my property now floods more frequently due to run-off, this position now relies on me have the time and resources to actually sue Wal-Mart. So yeah, I think government, especially at the local level, does a fantastic job of empowering all citizens to appeal decisions or at least bring to light negative implications of development before it becomes a train of lawsuits. In fact, we already see issues with this default to the Harm rule in areas where no rules exist. In far too many places, cars are allowed to pollute the air substantially. There are no impact fees assigned to them. How shall I sue them all? Of course, some people believe that the hue hovering above the city is merely dust or isn’t toxic –whatever. Which I guess just underlines the ambiguity of it all and why we need thousands of micro-democracies where we can do our best to right as many wrongs as possible while expecting people to hold the line on any local government to push back any abuse. I would happily have my vote than have a good attorney. For what it’s worth, I think that is the America our founders had in mind too. Does that mean that our current zoning laws are all good. Not at all. We need a reset in most places. But let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water here. Property Rights need to be restated more clearly as the Right To Own Property. What you do with that property is not a right necessarily and should be contingent on if you . Requiring people broadcast their intentions (permit) to mitigate against obvious infringements seems far too logical to simply dismiss it altogether. Let’s shift the discussion from the absence of the rule of law in land ownership and move toward better, sensible definitions of what is legal and what isn’t. Then property owners will more clearly know how the sovereign freedom to own property is defined in a free society.

By: David Sucher

David Sucher — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 06:14:00 +0000

Bearing in mind that we are in medias res, in the middle of things, what do you mean by this statement:
“For commercial land uses, Business Improvement Districts can likewise provide a regulated built environment through voluntary private contracts.”

Do you propose that — just pick any particular commercial area — zoning should be removed? And that merchants & property owners will form their own BID? A statement like yours might sound great in planning school, when starting from scratch in an ideal world on a Von Thunen plain, but I am perplexed that what you appear to propose can be even remotely plausible. Pray explain.