“Smart Growth” and Property Rights

The second biggest loser, behind people who wish to own property, will be the individual property owner, who will see their property rights slowly taken away.

Wisconsin’s “Smart Growth” law will take away property rights in a number of ways, most notably by moving the land use decisions up the political chain. After a community submits a plan to the state, that plan will become the law and only the state will be able to allow modifications to it. This means that if the citizens of a community decide they want to change a zoning law, or annex a piece of land not in the plan, they will no longer take their concerns to their local city council or town board. They will be required to petition the state for a change in the plan. If the state does not permit the change, the citizens will have to fight a state battle against powerful forces such as the Sierra Club and other special interest groups. Local elections will become meaningless with regards to all land use issues. Individual and community property rights are lost to a state “Smart Growth” board. The next step will be regional planning commissions which will control the state boards.

Some of the other weapons in the “Smart Growth” bag of tricks are:

Urban Growth Boundaries – UGB’s are lines drawn around communities which represent the limit of allowable development. They are without a doubt the biggest factor in the decline of housing affordability, one look at Portland proves this. Earlier this year Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk introduced her “Attain Dane” plan that would incorporate UGB’s around every community in Dane County.

Eminent domain – Used by the government to take land away from owners, supposedly for the good of the community. The constitution says the government can only take your land for “the public use.” For over 150 years that meant if the government needed to build a road or a courthouse they could force you to sell them your land. However, in the 1960’s the Michigan Supreme Court changed that definition when they allowed the small city of Poletown to take land from private individuals and give it to General Motors to build a plant. The reasoning was that the money received from increased property and corporate taxes, along with the additional jobs, was deemed to be “public use.” This has led to widespread abuse of eminent domain by governments around the country.

Purchasing Development Rights – This is where a person or government purchases the right to build anything on a property. The property owner retains the rights to live and farm the land, but can not build anything on the land without the permission from the owner of the development rights. While this may seem like a good way for farmers to get some value out of their land, there if is a real danger in this. One reason many farmers can’t afford to farm today is that their property taxes are too high, as evident by recent changes in Wisconsin’s laws for this reason. However, the money used to buy these development rights usually comes from property taxes. Therefore, is it right that the government taxes the farmer to get his money, then gives that money back to him in return for his property rights? Wisconsin’s constitution says that a property owner’s property rights can not be taken away, but they can be sold. Government purchasing of development rights is just a shell game used to get around the constitution.

Wisconsin law also gives cities a buffer zone around them in which they can grow as needed. When towns and villages buy the development rights around a city, they usurp the authority of the law. By purchasing development rights to specific tracks of land, small townships can completely block the growth of cities, creating artificial growth boundaries.

Down Zoning – Down zoning means to zone an area in such a way that only huge lot sizes are allowed, such 5 to 10 or more acres. This discourages development and insures that the area will remain rural.

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