Friday, March 16, 2007

Caught in the spiderweb

The grassroots tyranny represented by the spiderweb of local laws and regulations with which we increasingly live is aptly exemplified by the plight of Dale Sanders and his trucking business in Ridgefield, Washington. For years, Sanders ran his business from a rural, six-acre lot, providing jobs for 22 employees. Then, about two years ago, the state decided it wanted his land.

Sanders was "offered" $470,000 for the land -- an amount that wouldn't begin to cover the property's replacement cost. That's because the trucking business was located on land zoned "residential," reducing the offer well below the property's commercial value. And the culture that once treated zoning laws with the casual contempt they so richly deserve eroded in the years that Sanders has been in business; in the spotlight as he was, he now had to find commercial land for his business.

After a year of fruitless searching for a suitable site, Sanders persuaded the state to raise -- almost double -- its offer. With more money in-hand, he was now able to find commercial land to relocate his business. But even the new offer didn't cover the cost; Sanders was left with a hefty mortgage as his compensation for being forced off his own property. Commercial land for trucking is an increasingly rare commodity in Clark County -- not because land is scarce, but because restrictive laws make such uses nearly impossible.

At one point, Sanders said, a state Department of Transportation worker advised him to look for a residential site with "big bushes where nobody will see you."

Of course, Sanders is still in business despite running afoul of eminent domain and zoning laws. That can't be said of everybody on whom the government paints a target.

I guess you can count Dale Sanders lucky.

Labels:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Links to this post:

Create a Link

<< Home