Private
Property Rights Under Assault in
By Ron
West
It is not an issue of safety.
It is not an issue of property values.
It is an issue of private property and who owns it.
It is an issue of over-reaching local government.
The saga of power hungry government in our fair
city is a never ending story it seems.
Last fall, under the leadership of JoAnn Johnson’s beautification ideas
and Mayor Trevino’s “ignore the citizens” stance, the city council passed a
series of noxious ordinances in an effort to remove all RV’s from our
city. The citizens showed their
displeasure so the city made the first decision worst by thumbing their
respective noses at the citizens and making the first ordinance worse by
enacting a second equally obnoxious ordinance.
As
the May elections neared and the thought of possible defeat of the incumbents
became more of a reality, they tried to placate the voters by submitting the
obnoxious ordinances to P&Z for consideration and possible revision. A large number of people have appeared before
the P&Z and some progress has been made.
Unfortunately, four of the five appointees of the current majority on
the council have dug in their heels with a plan to take control of the front 9
½ feet of your property. Remember – it
is not an issue of safety and it is not an issue of property values. It is an issue of who owns and controls your
property. With a 4 to 3 vote, Mr. Ken
Sapp and others on the P&Z think it is the city who owns the Right of Way –
as it exists – on your land.
This
action is in the same vein as the obnoxious ordinances from last fall. They have the majority on P&Z, they do
not have to listen to what the voters want or say, and they have a majority on
the current council.
Lets
consider what the city did not address – yet – about their 9 ½ feet of your
property. They did not address
landscaping. They did not address trees. They did not address mail boxes. They did not address maintenance. They are only interested in what you park in
your driveway within their 9 ½ feet of your property. (Prior to this action, the city already had
and has and ordinance that precludes the parking of any vehicle across a
sidewalk so as to block it.)
As
with many city ordinances – this is more about the power to dictate to you than
a truly functional ordinance.
To
all the folks who went to the time and trouble to address Planning &
Zoning, as a citizen, I say thank you.
To the members of the Planning & Zoning commission that actually
listened – I say thank you. To the
members appointed by the old council members, and to those old council members,
I want to remind of the next election in May 2005. The more dictatorial you choose to become,
the stronger the opposition to such tactics will become.
To
all concerned citizens, when the 9 ½ foot ordinance is presented to the council
for the vote – take the time to attend.
As things now stand, you will see a 5 to 2 vote to again take control of
private property rights. By the way, the
city still wants you to maintain their property!
An excerpt from one of the P&Z Members who
voted to take your property rights follows:
”The
majority of the discussion and difficulty came with the passage of the second
ordinance that restricts parking within street Right of Way (ROW). ROW is
defined as a distance extending 9 1/2 feet from the back of the curb to the
inside of the yard. Since this recommended ordinance is part of the code of
ordinances, it becomes effective when passed and no grandfather provisions
apply. Vehicles currently parked in this ROW will be subject to this ordinance.
The city currently has an ordinance that does not allow parking across a
sidewalk. Sidewalks, are typically located where
the inside of the sidewalk is 9 1/2 feet from the roadway. In prior hearings,
residents have indicated support for retaining the sidewalk provision.
The ROW issue was subject to much discussion and debate to the lack of
grandfathering and the limitation of parking family automobiles. To accommodate
parking of passenger vehicles with "see through" visibility, the
proposed ordinance was modified to allow vehicles under
7 feet in height to park in the 9 1/2 foot zone. Passage of the modified
ordinances to be recommended to council for action was by a vote of 4 - 3.
Details of the recommended ordinances can be obtained from the