Property taxes (WAS: On Nh living and commutes..)

[Derek Martin]

On Fri, Apr 23, 2004 at 01:34:32PM -0700, Michael Costolo wrote:
> > Additionally, you need not have a historic landmark law to enforce
> > this kind of thing.  There are other existing laws to deal with your
> > Walmart case.
> 
> Fine.  So WalMart may have been a bad example.  Let's change it to
> "put in condos."

This case is the same.  A developer buys up property, builds condos to
sell them or rent them out.  He is not a private citizen, he is a
business.  There is zero difference.  FWIW, it doesn't matter if he
wants to build houses on that property...  It's still a business, and
the citizens should have the right to vote on it.

> > What is always bad is whenever it does happen, the private land owner
> > gets screwed.  When such a zoning goes into effect, the owner loses
> > rights to their own property, to a large extent, and it becomes more
> > difficult to sell for the same reasons, and they receive no
> > compensation for all this.  I'd love to see you try to explain how
> > that's not unfair.
> 
> In that scenario I agree.  But how often do historical zones and
> their subsequent regulation get suddently thrust upon unsuspecting
> landowners?  

Um, only... every single time they are created?

> And what about the case like the barn in Bedford where the land was
> *already* in a historical zone prior to ownership?

This is still not the same as someone buying the property.  She
inherited it from someone who already owned it.

> > Precisely why it should take more than a handful of empassioned
> > lunatics [not that all who vote on zoning issues are empassioned
> > lunatics] at a town meeting to vote in favor of something like
> > this...  Like, maybe you shouldn't be allowed to vote on a re-zoning
> > of a district, unless you live in that district, or at a property
> > which is immediately adjacent to it.  Or, if you feel the whole
> > community should have a say, then it should take a majority of the
> > /citizens/ to pass such a measure... not just a majority of the 15
> > people who show up at the town meeting.
> 
> I believe the town can decide what it takes to enact historical
> zones.  I'm sure that gives you no solace though.

Yeah, the town can.  But that doesn't make it fair...  Which has been
my point from the start.

> "The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by
> those who have not got it"

Indeed.

-- 
Derek D. Martin    http://www.pizzashack.org/   GPG Key ID: 0xDFBEAD02
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