Sunday, June 10, 2007

Big Brother v Local Control

Sac Bee - Dan Walters: State looks to control land use
Do you want the State, (not the people in Eureka or Humboldt County,) to determine if we already have enough Wal Marts or houses? Do you want the State to decide if your house is too expensive—or that you need to build "affordable housing" instead? Do you want the state to decide if you can split your lot, or add a mother-in-law unit? Should the legislature become a zoning and planning commission? ((hat tip)

There wouldn't be any local discussion about Riley's subdivision, or Marina Center.

Where are the "local control" advocates now?

Oh. I forgot. This isn't about Palco, so who cares.

4 comments:

  1. Well apparently Rob Arkley wants the state to determine our need to build affordable houses in Humboldt County.Is that not running into any opposition?

    ReplyDelete
  2. From the article:
    A landmark shift of policy occurred in the mid-1970s when voters and the Legislature, plus then-Gov. Brown, created a Coastal Commission with land use power -- sometimes applied very narrowly with tinges of corruption -- over a "coastal zone."

    Expansion of state land use authority went into a hiatus during the two Republican governorships that followed, but picked up a bit when Gray Davis became governor in 1999. Among other things, the state began enforcing a long-dormant state law requiring local governments to plan for housing demand,


    Well, that's the nice way to put it. What you're seeing is forced density, right?

    ReplyDelete
  3. It was also the state which forced cities to develop a Redevelopment Agency(can consist of the city council,such as Eureka),in the Wilson Era.That agency in Eureka has gutted Eureka taxpayers approx.$6,000,000 since its inception.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mark, I dont believe the state ever "forced" cities to form RDA's.

    If anything, agencies were falling over themselves with specious (sp) definitions of blight (the only way a RDA can be formed is with debt, and a blighted area).

    The state went back and made sure that empty pastures and farmlands in central california no longer fit the definition of blight.

    RDA's can be a good thing, and when abused (in the case of questionable eminent(sp...argh) domain actions, a bad thing.

    Leo Sears and the Humboldt Taxpayers League notwithstanding however, Eureka has benefited with their Redevelopment Agency.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are closed for the time-being.