[Vision2020] Latah County Land Use Ordinance

[Donovan Arnold]

"Virtually every provision ( in the Land use Ordinance) attacks or limits 
your rights as a property owner in Latah County." -- Jeff Harkins

Yes, I see what you mean. Can you believe they have restrictions on what 
people can do with their own land??? I mean no toxic waste dumping! No 
poisoning of streams and creeks and the drinking water of cattle. No 
building 65 foot windmills that with bright lights that will cause an 
airplane to crash into Moscow Mountain. And no torturing or mistreatment of 
dogs, horses, cattle, sheep, and definitely no kicking and spitting back at 
the llamas.

It is almost as if the County Commission is purposely setting out to enforce 
laws for the purpose of protecting the health, safety, and general welfare 
of the people of Latah County and following Title 67, Chapter 65, of the 
Idaho State Code. Those Bastards! How dare they make things safe and fair 
for everyone. Thanks for bringing this 82 page document to our attention 
Jeff. Reading it has really opened my eyes as to the functioning and purpose 
of the BOCC.

Donovan J Arnold





The purpose of this ordinance is to promote the health, safety, and general 
welfare of the people
of Latah County by establishing regulations and standards in accordance with 
the Latah County
Comprehensive Plan. This ordinance is authorized by the provisions of Title 
67, Chapter 65,
Idaho Code, the “Local Land Use Planning Act”.



>From: Jeff Harkins <jeffh at moscow.com>
>To: vision2020 at moscow.com
>Subject: [Vision2020] Latah County Land Use Ordinance
>Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 21:39:41 -0800
>
>URGENT POSTING
>
>After digesting the 82 pages of the proposed Latah County Land Use 
>Ordinance, I call your attention to this document and urge you to read the 
>proposed revisions carefully.  In all my 22 years in Latah County, I have 
>not seen a more intrusive collection of policies proposed for property 
>owners.  Virtually every provision attacks or limits your rights as a 
>property owner in Latah County.  The link is:
>
>http://www.latah.id.us/Dept/PB_ZoningOrdinanceDraft.pdf
>
>Here are some highlights:
>
>The ordinance is divided into 9 articles as follows:
>
>Article 1 - Administration
>Article 2 - Definitions
>Article 3 - Land Use Zones
>Article 4 - General Land Use Regulations
>Article 5 - Overlay Zones
>Article 6 - Zoning Map Amendments
>Article 7 - Conditional Use Permits and Variances
>Article 8 - Divisions of Property
>Article 9 - Design Standards
>
>One or more of those articles should get your attention.
>
>Keep this in mind - there are some 117 individual provisions to this 
>omnibus ordinance - many of them restrict your rights as a property owner 
>and will require a fee-based conditional use permit (CUP) in order to 
>comply with the ordinance.
>
>No doubt some of the proposed rules are reasonable, but all need to be 
>given the greatest scrutiny before they are considered by the County 
>Commissioners.
>
>You might want to know that the Planning and Zoning Commissioners have 
>stated that they have worked on this document for seven (7) years.  They 
>advertised the draft document for the public hearing (held last week) 
>during the first week of January.  The draft document discussed at the 
>hearing was dated January 11.  This provided you and I about one week to 
>digest the details of this ordinance.
>
>Here is something that struck me as a problem.  Apart from the blanket 
>statement that the purpose of the ordinance is to "promote the health, 
>safety and general welfare of the people of  Latah County ...", the 
>document provides no detailed purpose statements or context statements 
>which attempt to define why the specific regulation is needed, what is the 
>problem or issue being addressed, etc.  Furthermore, none of the 
>regulations provide for a measurement or assessment standard that would 
>allow citizens to determine whether the regulation or policy is effective.
>
>After you read the document, perhaps you will appreciate why I am proposing 
>an ordinance of my own - no public policy or regulation or rule affecting 
>land use should be adopted unless the proposed policy, rule or regulation 
>provides a clear and unambiguous statement of purpose - detailing precisely 
>what the problem or issue is that the County officials are trying to 
>address.  Further, as applicable, the proposed policy, rule or regulation 
>should have a means of assessing or determining whether the rule is 
>effective at dealing with the problem.  Over time this may help to 
>highlight those rules or policies which should be eliminated.
>
>After review, contact me directly or post your comments back to Vision2020. 
>  I know it may be difficult for all to find the time, given all the other 
>major public policies being debated just now (water issue, highways, public 
>schools) but this document  - when combined with the impact of the other 
>major issues being decided - has real and significant consequences for all 
>of us.
>
>I look forward to your comments (oh, horse owners, dog owners, home 
>occupation folks, farmers that use apprentice housing, rural property 
>owners and individuals planning to use wind powered generators should be 
>sure to review the document).
>
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>                              mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
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