California Road. Scholl's School Road. Rockhill Road.
Addresses of some of the approximately 900 landowners in Richland who might see the value of their properties destroyed. Overnight. Forever.
Zion Hill Road. Paletown Road. Old Beth Pike.
The scenario goes something like this: The township changes the zoning map so that every single tract of land currently designated Rural Agriculture (RA) becomes Resource Protection (RP). And hundreds of affected owners can no longer subdivide, or meaningfully develop, their property, including giving a building lot to their children. Their major asset taken.
Hickon Road. Route 313. Yankee Road.
Unfair? Unquestionably. Unconstitutional? Unclear. Unrealistic? Sadly, no.
Cherry Road. Smoketown Road. Camp Rock Hill Road.
At the November 22 Board of Supervisors meeting, Richland Citizens Alliance co-founder Susan Cooke suggested exactly that scheme. Change every RA lot in Richland to RP. All 900 lots. It's in the official township minutes. "If the remaining zoning on all the RA that is left throughout the township, and along the swamp, you look into RP...That would protect the resources," she said.
Convoluted speaking, but a clear message: Preservation by confiscation. Make it almost impossible for people to divide or develop their own property. And how would this change affect the land and homes of RCA members? Not to worry. Only one of the 11 core families lives in RA. And that family's land is already restricted.
Portzer Road. Richlandtown Pike. Muskrat Road.
Up to now, you may have dismissed the RCA as a group of fringe dissidents who didn't really impact your life too much. Yeah, they opposed the new YMCA, age-qualified housing, traffic roundabout, and a township park. But they didn't threaten your job, or your savings, or your property, so what's the big deal? Let someone else lose sleep.
Dickert Road. Route 309. Younken Road.
Well, wake up, sleepers. Here it is, up close and personal. In your face. Barbarians at the gates. We should have learned from history: ignore a problem for too long and it can get out of control. And what is your zoning, Dr. Frankenstein?
Reservoir Road. Tollgate Road. Church Road.
The grisly details: The zoning code states, "The purpose of this (RP) district is to protect areas consisting largely of sensitive natural features such as woodlands, steep slopes, scenic areas, wetlands, floodplains, and lakes and ponds". So you 900 owners would not be permitted to include the protected portion of your land (wetlands, ponds, woodlands, steep slopes etc) in determining buildable site area.
And since RP requires far greater lot sizes than RA, and allows less than half as much construction per lot, many owners would be left with little or nothing to build on. In fact, many existing homes would become nonconforming under Cooke's plan. And try selling "nonconforming" today.
Pumping Station Road. Axehandle Road. Rich Hill Road .
So aside from the devastating consequences to the 900 non-RCA landowners, who else suffers if Sue Cooke gets her wish?
EVERY taxpayer in Richland. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1992, "When the owner of real property has been called upon to sacrifice all economically beneficial uses in the name of the common good, that is, to leave his property economically idle, he has suffered a taking". Translation: every RA property owner would have to be compensated for his/her loss.
Meadow Road. Raub Road. Mine Road .
Millions of dollars. Multi-millions. From you. Your tax dollars. In fact, voters in Oregon last month abolished a law very similar to Cooke's proposal because the state could not afford to pay the angry owners.
By the by, the entire eliminate-all-RA concept may be illegal anyway, because state law requires every municipality to have a full range of zoning and uses. Add big township legal bills to your tax tab.
Apple Road. Thatcher Road. Rockhill Road.
This is not the first time that Cooke and the RCA have cavalierly planned to waste your money - lots of it - on their own self-serving brand of "preservation". Back in April, 2003, Cooke tried to persuade the township to spend $1.2 million to preserve 10 acres of land by her own house . $120,000 per acre, when the going rate for such land elsewhere was about $8000 per acre!!! Fortunately for us, it didn't fly.
So could this new zoning change really happen? Only if we let it. If you are one of the 900 worried owners of RA land, or just a citizen in Richland who doesn't want to see your taxes go up like a roman candle, mark the dates May 3, and November 8, on your 2005 calendar. The primary and the general elections. They will decide the direction of your government, your property, and your taxes.
Gross Road. Hickory Lane. Station Road.
Mercifully, Susan Cooke and the RCA aren't in charge of the township. Yet. Their ideas only have one vote on the Board of Supervisors. For now. But even if Cooke's current ridiculous plan is rejected, you can expect more just like it. Just like $1.2 million for 10 acres. Just like obstructing badly-needed township projects - the YMCA, age-qualified housing, traffic roundabout, and the public park on Heller Road.
Union Road. Rocky Ridge Road. Keystone Road.
We will probably hear a lot about this issue in the near future, as Ms. Cooke blames me for exposing the dangers of her scheme, and scrambles to assure us that these are NOT the consequences she had in mind. And they probably aren't.
But this poorly-thought-out stunt is yet another example of how these people will say, and do, just about anything, without research, and without regard for fairness, legality, or the consequences YOU will face. Next May and November: RCA - Remember Cooke's Agenda.