Form-based Codes: Replacing the everyday American City with the ‘Ideal Communist City’

A form-based code is a land development regulation that fosters predictable built results and a high-quality public realm by using physical form (rather than separation of uses) as the organizing principle for the code. A form-based code is a regulation, not a mere guideline, adopted into city, town, or county law. A form-based code offers a powerful alternative to conventional zoning regulation.

Several years ago, I wrote a series of articles for News with Views, explaining Sustainable Development. Today two of them are popping up regularly in the media. Back when I wrote these two articles, people would not believe that all this planning and organizing could have been dreamed up by the Power Elite, let along set down as part of the blueprint for Agenda 21.

Read that definition above of Form-based Code again. Note: “a regulation, not a mere guideline for every city, town, or county”. And “a powerful alternative to conventional zoning regulation”. You be it is. The only good I can see from this is that we can get rid of 90% of the staff on our planning commissions – everything will be spelled out for us by the Power Elite. There will be no exceptions.

Today, A Southern California county put the finishing touches on a first-of-its-kind wildlife corridor Tuesday that will protect important pathways for animals to pass between critical habitats and into Los Padres National Forest. This is part of the Wildlands Project. “The main aim is to provide restrictions on development to provide adequate pathways for wildlife to pass through rural and semirural parts of Ventura County. Guidelines under the new zoning ordinance include restrictions on outdoor lighting, fencing and other development that could hinder animals. Waterways will also gain a 200-foot buffer to protect animals from human incursion.”

Not mentioned in the article is the misuse of Fire Codes and practices.

I sued our local Fire Dept for abusive intrusion into my property rights (a complicated issue that centered on zoning)

It has cost me $75,000 in legal fees and gone on. 5 years. I won at trial then they appealed (and they will lose again)

They had approved a project where I installed $160,000 of improvements then the changed their mind after it was built ( to code) and tried to apply other non existent codes to a business that had already been running for 15 years.

The appeal will be done in a few weeks and even though I will win, all that allows me to do is reopen my business that I had the right to do originally.

I will get no compensation for my loses. They are snickering at what they’ve done to me. I have no recourse even after I win.

The local tax payers funded their attack on me

Thugs ... plain and simple

The fires of California are made more dangerous by oak woodland protections.

Live oaks, which are basically weeds have more BTU’s per volume than any other American wood (yes manzanita burns hotter but not as long)
You can cut liveoak fire wood and it barely needs to cure to burn. 2-3 weeks it’s ready for an evil wood stove

Most counties have ordinances to protect oaks and collect money for your right to cut more than a few small trees each year. It is nothing more than a money generating enviro business.

What the enviros have done to wild lands is make them more dangerous

Granted there are oaks worth preserving but Not Live Oaks.

This is an old “planning” theory, if not practice, and if run well (in certain places), would preserve lands as nature preserves and allow the migration of wildlife around highly developed areas (where they are killed by cars, etc).

Now the question is whether it is a land “grab” and development stopping scheme or not. I haven’t seen anything on these types of “preserves/pathways” in about 10 years or more.

Wildlife near me in increasingly and destructively urban/suburban no. Virginia has made life fascinating for my family to watch (partially because there is a running path/trail along a nice “Run” body of water that goes from near DC to the more rural areas.

My sideporch breakfast and dinner group includes my two cats, my neighbor’s cat, a semi wild cat that might be a son of one of our deceased cats, one opossum (a hawk got the baby one), and at one time 5 raccoons (out of 8 - the five were living in my neighbor’s basement).

Looks like we lost two raccoons within the last year but the “mother of all raccoons”, about a 20-25 pounder, regularly eats the cat food, bread, etc. we put out.

One night he washed his bread in the cat’s water bowl, then sat in it while eating. I have pictures to prove it.

The little milk snakes got killed by lawnmowers or cats/dogs, and someone killed a huge Chipmunk the other day (They moved right next to our house - neighbors have a small dog, we have two cats and my other neighbor has cat, plus one or two semi-wild ones in the hood. We haven’t had a rat in almost 15 years (except one or two neighbors).

A coyote can be heard late at night, the silver/red foxes hunt all over the place (rabbits are having a hard time), and an occasional deer comes down the hiking trail for a drink at 7-11.

We have a pretty good wildlife management program (they relocate raccoons, deer, etc) but there are still enough for us to enjoy. After all before George Washington owned our neighbor/forest, they did.

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