Keyword: zoning
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York County oyster farmer Anthony Bavuso’s lawsuit against his county’s special-use permit requirement will move to the York County-Poquoson Circuit Court, after the county attempted to dismiss the case. The case revolves around the question of whether York County’s zoning ordinance, which requires those who engage in agricultural or aquaculture activities to obtain a special-use permit, is in violation of the Right to Farm Act in the Code of Virginia. The Complaint was filed on Jan. 31, 2014. “We are thankful we will now find out how the Right to Farm Act can protect local farmers like us,” Bavuso said...
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FAIRFAX, Va. – A plan to ban “frequent and large gatherings at neighborhood homes” is a lawsuit waiting to happen, a Fairfax County supervisor predicts.Officials will get an idea Wednesday when public-comment hearings begin in Virginia’s most populous county.“I believe the county is risking a lawsuit and/or a constitution challenge by interfering with peoples’ right to assemble,” Supervisor Pat Herrity said in a statement.The proposed zoning ordinance limits “group assembly” at residences to 49 people a day. Such gatherings “shall not occur more frequently than three times in any 40-day period.”County officials say they have received complaints about group meetings...
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Last year, a landowner in rural Yavapai County, Arizona, was finally vindicated in a hearing after a prolonged legal battle with local zoning officials. The case involved local officials who claimed that they had the power to shut down shooting on private land, because shooting was not an "approved use" in the zoning code. The closest complaining neighbor was miles distant from the property. A common practice in "model" zoning codes is to invert the ordinary structure of American law, claiming that everything that is not allowed is prohibited, instead of the long recognized construct of everything that is...
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"Local officials who abuse zoning authority powers to cower citizens into submission and deprive land owners of Constitutional rights in the enjoyment of their land must be subject to fines and actual damages they cause including attorney fees," Delegate Bob Marshall noted in support of his HB 1219 recently introduced in the Virginia General Assembly. Marshall introduced his bill in direct response to incidents precipitated by county officials who threatened Virginia citizen farmer Martha Boneta. Boneta gained national attention after she was cited and threatened with $5,000 per-day fines for hosting such 'menacing activities' as a birthday party for eight 10-year...
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Del. Bob Marshall, R-Manassas, has introduced a bill that would give farmers and landowners’ property rights remedies against local zoning laws. The bill is inspired by the Martha Boneta debacle last year. But unlike last year’s “Boneta Bill,” HB1219 extends beyond farmers to anyone who owns property. The bill also tackles other issues such as the constitutional rights of farmers. HB1219 says that local governments that violate constitutional rights through zoning must pay their victims the amount of the fines they sought to impose and the actual damages, including attorney fees. The bill also allows the Virginia Attorney General to...
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Easier to open in Siberia than California "Under the current U.S. business climate, regulatory and tax restrictions tend to curb otherwise dynamic entrepreneurial energy," Puzder said. "We'd love to see more growth in domestic markets. Unfortunately, it's easier for our franchisees to open a restaurant in Siberia than in California." In the U.S., the company's Hardee's division is expanding in New York, New Jersey, Chicago and South Florida. Meanwhile, the Carl's Jr. division is growing in Texas and the Seattle area. Challenges to U.S. expansion Puzder named ethanol regulation, which has resulted in higher beef costs, a rising minimum wage...
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Shooting in the Arizona Desert has a long history An interesting case from Arizona, where a rancher was dragged into court on the unfounded pretext that he was illegally building a shooting range on his large acreage near Prescott. From the Daily Courier: PRESCOTT - In what has become an issue pitting gun rights against land use codes, a Williamson Valley landowner had his Second Amendment rights upheld in a Tuesday hearing in Prescott. Brad DeSaye, owner of Headhunter Ranch LLC, said he never intended to build gun ranges on his properety. (sic) "The wild rumors that brought us to...
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The global cabal of U.N. Agenda 21 is behind global warming, regionalism, zoning, land and water use control, wealth redistribution, weakening and eventual replacement of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency, global warming, cap and trade, Smart Grid, Smart Meters, carbon taxes, high gasoline prices, global citizens, IB World Schools, Common Core nationalized education standards, biofuels, Marxist advancement across the globe, food control, water access control via the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST), gun control, health control, the Arab Spring/Winter, unchecked illegal immigration, and they are unstoppable. They’ve had 100 years of preparation ahead of us. Their effort...
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A Rhode Island man has filed a federal lawsuit against Pope Francis and others, claiming the frequent bell-ringing of the Catholic church across the street has disrupted his life so much, it helped precipitate the demise of his marriage. John Devaney, 64, of Narragansett, R.I., lives directly across from the picturesque St. Thomas More Catholic Church. “The bells have been going off 700 times a week, very loud volume, and it’s been going on for too long,” he told the Providence Journal in a videotaped interview. “I’m not getting any response back from the people that control the bell-ringing.” “First...
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First it was bars, restaurants and office buildings. Now the front lines of the "No Smoking" battle have moved outdoors. City parks, public beaches, college campuses and other outdoor venues across the country are putting up signs telling smokers they can't light up. Outdoor smoking bans have nearly doubled in the last five years, with the tally now at nearly 2,600 and more are in the works.
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The Fairfax City council voted Tuesday night to create a new term in its zoning law, “medical care facility,” delete the term “clinic” from the current definition of a doctor’s office, and require all medical care facilities to obtain a special use permit at a cost of $4,800, along with a detailed approval process and a final vote by the city council. Pro-choice activists said the move was aimed at keeping abortion clinics out of Fairfax City, including an existing clinic in the city which was trying to relocate to meet Virginia’s new hospital-style zoning standards for abortion clinics. Clinics...
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International agreements to lower greenhouse gases like the Kyoto Protocol have proven to be unenforceable, but zoning laws have real teeth. Thus global warming activists have begun to work on the municipal and state level to pass zoning laws that mandate "net-zero" greenhouse gas emissions in new construction, referred to as Net-Zero or "Zero Energy Building" (ZEB) or "Zero Net Energy" (ZNE).
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In a victory for advocates of private property rights, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that governments may owe compensation to property owners who are denied permits to develop their land. Critics said the 5-4 decision, with the conservative justices comprising the majority, will make it more difficult and costly for governments to promote development or enact environmental changes designed to help the public generally. The court sided with Coy Koontz, a Florida man who said limits imposed by the St. Johns River Water Management District on how he used his land were a "taking" subject to compensation under...
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the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday said a Florida property owner may be owed compensation from a government agency that declined to award him a development permit for his land.
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My neighbor was bemoaning the fact that he did not have enough flat ground on his lot to put up a 16' diameter x 3' deep above ground pool. It would be the simple kind with the inflatable ring around the top to add rigidity. Since we have a flat spot next to his driveway, I suggested that he put it up there. To be safe, I checked with the county. Oh, boy! Zoning - "It has to be 10 feet from the property line." Me - "But the property line is with the neighbor who wants to put up...
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New York City's Department of Consumer Affairs has given notice to 17 restaurants that offer sidewalk cafe dining: Stop the outdoor service. “Please be advised you have 100 business days from, and including May 1, to complete one of the following options,” the agency, which operates under Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration, said in a statement, reported by The New York Post. Option No. 1: Provide the city with a “certified land survey” to prove the cafe business is conducted on private property. Option No. 2: Filing for an exemption of zoning law. Or Option No. 3: Surrender the business permit...
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<p>The city Department of Consumer Affairs has served notice to 17 popular restaurants that this will be their last season to offer sidewalk cafes — unless they can prove that they comply with zoning regulations.</p>
<p>In some cases, the eateries have been serving street-side customers for more than two decades.</p>
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Eau Claire (WQOW) - There's no debating that obesity is a serious problem in this country. What may be open for debate is what the government can do to address it. Eau Claire's Comprehensive Plan has a health chapter. It's a lengthy document designed to encourage healthy living. There are many ways a city could go about doing that. One of several ideas the city is proposing is an "obesity map". City of Eau Claire Associate Planner, Ned Noel, says, "So that the map would describe possible areas that people are more overweight." It's a unique step that's never been...
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The Westboro Baptist Church has a colorful new neighbor, and Roy G. Biv isn’t going anywhere soon. Planting Peace, a Destin, Fla.-based nonprofit, has purchased a house directly across from the notoriously homophobic Westboro Baptist Church, and today it is being painting with the rainbow pattern of the gay pride flag.
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When Todd Koeppel moved to the area near Spring Valley, Wisconsin, little did he know the freedoms he had on his own property. Like many people throughout history, knowledge of one's freedom does not come until it is threatened or taken away. This happened last year to St. Croix County's Town of Cady, where Koeppel resides. Last June the Town Board voted to end their long history of property freedom for what Koeppel describes as, "A huge, 184 page, highly restrictive, and intrusive zoning ordinance written by a Dane County attorney." Prior to last year, Cady, like fewer and fewer...
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