OTHER VOICES/GUEST OPINION - BY DAVID L. COLLINS

HAVE WE GONE TOO FAR WITH PLANNING AND ZONING?

We (that's most of us) once were, as small landholders, "the most precious part of a state", as Thomas Jefferson put it. Our "living" (and now "dying") Constitution still retains Article V of The Bill or Rights, which says, "No person ... shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

Big-time planning has "taken" property by setting into motion grand plans (more properly termed "master plans") that restrict the use of private property. The "due process of law" many times essentially amounts to a political process in which whoever shouts the loudest is able to carry the issue. We "small landholders" are deprived of some of the "bundle of rights" in our property.

Zoning has also "taken" property by implementing the grand plans with detailed regulations that restrict the use of private property. The legal basis for zoning is the police power of the state, and zoning is to be based on promoting the "general welfare". Let's face it; that term has lost virtually all its meaning. The general welfare now tells you that you can only add 200 square feet to your house because it has been decided that "monster houses" are bad. But a neighbor gets approval to build an "accessory structure" to house birds that make enough noise to deprive you of many hours of sleep.

Public property belongs to us all - in theory. But big-time planning has also "taken" public property. A small bunch of people want that public property to be used, not by the citizenry that pays taxes to government for services and facilities, but by "no one". This is the "BANANA" syndrome: "build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything." Many acres of public property are restricted for what amount to zero use by humans.

An example of such use restriction on public property occurred several years ago. A project that I worked on with Jack Hickey and the Edgewood Park Golfers Citizens Group was advanced to propose a "win-win" solution to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors. This was a proposal in which 453 acres of undeveloped land would be designated for a "pay its own way" golf course that would be designed so as to protect the checkerspot butterflies on the site. A large number of so-called "environmentalists" showed up to protest this reasonable allocation of land uses. The Board listened to the noise of protest. They decided to "give" the land over to the few people who hike on it.

As with most government decisions, a "gift" to some is a "take" from many. The golfers in the central part of San Mateo County who have had to commute many millions of extra miles to play golf at more distant golf courses in Santa Clara County (or elsewhere) have been "taken' .

Planning and zoning are political functions that give to some and take from most of us. It does look like we have gone much too far with planning and zoning.

Submitted by: David L. Collins, 2019 Ticonderoga Drive, San Mateo, CA 94402