Zoning in rural areas (real estate, farm, gas, friendly)

[arctichomesteader]

Originally Posted by madpie

Just an example. You move out in the middle of nowhere in Alaska. You build you cabin, put in a small vegetable garden and a small shed. You are out cutting firewood one day and hear heavy equipment on the neighboring property. You walk over to check it out and find they are removing all the trees. You talk to one of the workers and ask what's going on. You find out they discovered gold and are starting a strip mining operation that will be right up to your property line. Pretty soon you will be able to see a 500' deep hole out of your window. You won't be able to sleep at night because of the lights and the constant beeping created by the trucks and other equipment backing up. Your little paradise just went to hell in a hand basket and there's not a thing you can do about it.

Won't happen, my land is surrounded by stateland, and there's a mineral closing order in effect (i.e., off limits to commercial mining).

Now for a more realistic situation, even though the above scenario happened to a friend of mine in Wyoming, but it was coal shale they were after not gold. You have been raising hogs on your farm for two generations. You have around 2,000 pigs farrow to finish and a few cattle as well. Suddenly, you find out your neighbor just sold off three acres less than a quarter-mile down wind from your livestock operation. The building of a house starts when the winds are in a different direction. As the house is finished the winds change and the full smell of your livestock operation floats into the new owner's nose.

Needless to say they are upset. They file a nuisance suit against you. They file a suit for failing to disclose your presence against your neighbor and they file to have the valuation on their $250,000 house reduced because of the smell from your farm. Guess what, the judge agrees with them and you find yourself with a $2,000,000 judgment against you. Your neighbor also loses the suit and his farm as well. Guess what, this actually happened in Missouri a couple of years ago. Two farmers out of business and a happy former big city family living close by. If there was zoning in this county, the house would have never been allowed to be built that close to a livestock operation thus avoiding all of this. Ironically the two farmers were key in getting the county not to adopt zoning

Don't need zoning to prevent that. Laws here in VT protect farms against that sort of thing. If a person builds next to a farm, there's nothing they can do about the farm operations. Any suit will be thrown out in court. I'm surprised they were allowed to sue the farmers in MO.

[North Beach Person]

Some areas have right to farm laws, others don't. I, too, am surprised MO doesn't. Although, in MD, it is a County statute.
One thing that correct zoning laws do is limit sprawl and direct development where there is infrastructure like roads, water/sewer, and schools. The wrong laws end up creating farmettes, or ranchettes, and very expensive to maintain sub-divisions. Now, in an area that needs jobs and development that might not necessarily be a bad thing.

[TexasHorseLady]

I just did some research, and evidently all 50 states have some form of right to farm law. Missouri definitely has one.

[madpie]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

I just did some research, and evidently all 50 states have some form of right to farm law. Missouri definitely has one.

Sure they have one. Several have been ruled unconstitutional. The ruling went in favor of the neighbors despite the fact Missouri has a right-to-farm act.

[lovethetruth]

With the exception of safety issues such as electrical wiring, I am totally against zoning. I don't think it is the governments business to tell someone what they are allowed to have in their yard and on their property.

I have heard of cities banning kids treehouses, some subdivisions don't even allow the display of the American flag.. Some places tell you what you can park in your driveway. I just detest nanny state mentality.

[North Beach Person]

A lot of the examples (paint schemes, cars in driveway), while existing in a few zoning codes, are more prevalent in HOA CCR's than in zoning.

[lovethetruth]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

A lot of the examples (paint schemes, cars in driveway), while existing in a few zoning codes, are more prevalent in HOA CCR's than in zoning.

Yes, you are right.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by madpie

... By regulating land use I am referring to allowing a trailer park in a certain zone or an industrial park in another. Regulating land use can limit the number of houses in a farming area or requiring a platted subdivision to be approved prior to groundbreaking. Land use in many rural areas is simply controlling livestock numbers and creating setbacks between livestock uses and houses.

I was in error to imply that we have no zoning at all. We do have some. But to my mindset it is very minimal.

My land is within a tax status program called "Treegrowth". Which sets a limit on the assessed value of the land. Otherwise private forests would not exist, if a tract of land was assessed at $100,000/acre and taxes at $1,000/acre, then obviously a forest simply does not produce anything annually to pay those levels of taxes.

When I got my building permit, the forms did ask questions.
Would it be visible from the road?

Would it be visible from any property line?

Would I be maintaining a buffer of greater than 100 foot from the pavement before I made any clearings?

How far was the set back from each river or stream?

Would I keep all structures below the general height of treetops?

I took one acre out from 'treegrowth' status, and left the rest of my land in treegrowth. That 1 acre allows for my driveway and house.

I can clear cut the forest and re-plant with timber, or firewood trees, or Christmas trees, or fruit trees, or I could do nothing and wait for nature to re-plant trees.

To keep my property taxes low, I am keeping most of my land in 'Treegrowth'. Which requires that I keep it growing trees.

We have been building raised beds along both sides of my driveway to grow veggies. Small greenhouses here and there. A fruit orchard of mixed fruits, nuts and herbs.

We are cutting down some trees for firewood and goat feed, and encouraging the maples to open up and get bigger. So one day we could do some maple sugaring.

We have been planting ginseng on the forest floor in one area.

We are running goats, sheep, hogs, and chickens in the forest, they seem to like living underneath the forest canopy.

Small movable coops and pens out in the forest seems to work for us.



I also manage an additional 100 acres of forest. As I learn more and more, I see that I could: take 1 acre out of that tract out from 'treegrowth'. I could measure a driveway and 10 trailer pads to equal exactly one acre. Spaced out at 100 foot intervals in the forest. With an Electric outlet at each pad, a water hookup and sewage. We could still run goats and sheep loose there. I guess.

While this would require a building permit, it would not violate anything.



Yesterday we went to a fella that lives a mile away, he has a new gunsmith shop that he opened a year ago. He filed a building permit, as he method of 'asking' permission to run a gun smithing shop. He is now in business. of course he had to file permits with the Feds. The Feds were more strict than any local gubbermint was.

[jetgraphics]

If you check the law on the books, "Zoning" is limited in application to property held with qualified ownership. Property held with absolute ownership is not subject to zoning or any other imposition.

Check your friendly county courthouse law library for pertinent statutes.

[marmac]

We once had neighbors who showed me the law that said filing and paying income taxes was optional.

I said--"once"--cuz unfortunately ( for them) the courts didn't agree and he had his farm auctioned off on the court house steps by the sheriff and the IRS.