Posted by: thepinetree on 03/09/2010 10:03 AM
Updated by: thepinetree on 04/13/2010 08:59 AM
Expires: 01/01/2015 12:00 AM
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Letter to the Editor~by Bob Mulvany
"Editor: After observing the first planning workshop in Murphys I am more convinced than ever that the Calaveras Board of Supervisors must act now to terminate the contract with Mintier Harnish and end this monkey motion. Since 1916 in New York when the first zoning ordinance was passed it was obvious that zoning ordinances were not perfect. Sometimes requirements cannot be met and best use of land languishes because of a parcel’s peculiarities or un-anticipated changes in the neighborhood, the economy or demographics. Therefore, flexibility is needed in the zoning laws. Complex rules and rigid enforcement cause economic stagnation and unnecessary hardship on property owners and with no benefit to society whatsoever.....
Failure has many architects. Success has few. Under dozens of agencies at every level of government, the planning process has become a quagmire of multi-agency complexity, conflicting purpose, vague and unclear language and bureaucratic confusion, proving again that the inverse relationship between reliability and complexity applies to government as well as to machinery.
Since planning failures have trashed our property rights and stalled the economy, I implore the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors to Reverse the trend. Fire Mintier Harnish and draft a simpler, more concise and citizen-friendly general plan.
Also, the consultant's "vision statement" is poetic but impractical and meaningless, so I suggest a real statement of goals:
The general plan shall, within applicable state and federal statutes enhance orderly and proper land use and development with the least possible regulation, process and delay.
Then, allow market forces maximum reasonable freedom to meet the public demand for housing, services, goods and jobs. That policy has a proven track record of success. The current state of our nation today is ample proof that government meddling in private business causes shipwrecks-of-state and we all suffer. Two centuries of freedom made the US the most successful nation in history, so why cede our freedom to state control now?
Bob Mulvany"
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