Liberty & Power: Group Blog
THE ECLIPSE OF PRIVATE PROPERTY
This is about a small town in Colorado, a town called "Ouray." It is like a lot of other small mountains towns, struggling with the demands of growth and the loss of what some perceive to be its "true" character. Preserving that character, it turns out, comes at a price. Read on, and see how easy it is to wake up one morning in a rock-solid Republican area and find out the city government has turned into a politburo. And check out our website website:
In a trend that began some years ago, our Ouray City Council is contemplating additional measures to restrict your rights over your land and houses in the city. The stated purpose of these measures is to define the "desired" scale and character of all development.
Currently the city uses voluntary guidelines, but many officials consider these inadequate. They want mandatory regulations, to be enforced by regulatory bureaucracy that would decide if your plans for your property are "compatible" with official notions of style and historical character.
Among the regulations currently being considered are these: The style and design of new houses (and modifications to existing ones) must conform to the "architectural tradition" of the city. New construction must be "compatible" with other structures in the neighborhood. Exterior materials must be similar in color, texture, and dimension to the city's "historical context." Roofs must be steeply pitched.
Who would define the meaning of terms like "tradition" and "character?" The city government. Who would evaluate your building plans and decide if they conform to the City's mandated aesthetic standards? The city government. What sort of city would you then have? Would it be a city increasingly under the control of the Office of Community Development and its unelected "coordinator?"
It would certainly not be the Ouray that many of us cherish, a place of eclectic styles representing many historical and architectural concepts. It would not be a place where the free market operates, efficiently and openly, and where individuals (not government officials) make decisions about the disposition of their resources. Instead, it will be a place where mainly gingerbread-decorated neo-Victorians are sanctioned, and where free market innovation is discouraged in preference to government-mandated design rules. As one member of the (unelected) Planning Commission put it, 40% of the visitors to Ouray expect to see quaint Victorians with steeply pitched roofs, so that is what we need to give them.
Highly restrictive regulations have already been approved. Did you know, for instance, that you cannot build or add on to your house in the historic district (most of the city) if the size will exceed by more than 10% of the average house size in your block? The Council passed this ordinance only last year. Think again about adding a bathroom or expanding the kitchen. Or did you know that you cannot build on more than 30% of your lot in the residential zone R1? That means almost three quarters of your land is unavailable to you for any other purpose than landscaping. And yet these restrictions are nothing compared to what will happen if a number of city officials get their way.
The day is soon approaching when you will have to apply for a certificate of "appropriateness," to demonstrate that your structure conforms in design, scale, building materials, setback, and landscaping features to the "character" of the city as defined by city officials. Is that really what you want here in Ouray? If you value free market capitalism, if you want to safeguard your right of private property against predatory government encroachment, we strongly urge you attend the working sessions on historical preservation.
Unfortunately, very few people showed up at the last meeting, and that means city officials have not heard from the people who take their rights seriously. Local government becomes unresponsive and overbearing when it is not held accountable to the people.
Make your voice heard now, or it will be too late!
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