Proposed revised Zoning Ordinance #16 is to be discussed Tuesday at 7 PM by the Planning Commission. If you are concerned about having too few property rights or your neighbor having too many you should attend.

In short the zoning ordinance tells property owner what is allowed / not allowed on their property. Things like size of house, can I build a strip club? bar?;  pig  farm?. How many dogs, cats, roosters, and tigers can I have? What kind of home business can I have? What advertising can I do? It also defines the enforcement process, which lately has been an issue. Do you really want your fellow citizens to be convicted of a misdemeanor if they violate the zoning ordinance?

Before zoning was started in about 1920 to prohibit a smelly factory being build upwind of a ritzy residential neighborhood in Euclid Ohio, only nuisance laws applied.

Zoning is a two edged sword. It restricts what you can do. It also allows you to do things that your neighbors cannot then complain about. It restricts your property rights and it also restricts your neighbor’s right to be a nuisance to you. What if your neighbor has 260 acres at Buell and Collins and wants to build a 1000 lot low income trailer park. What legal measure can stop that?

See the parts of the zoning ordinance that are controversial and need resolution at this link – (last few pages.)

 

Show up and voice your opinion. It matters.

 

Bob Yager

Editor – Oakland Township Sentinel