From the Editor
My Home is My Fortress
By Mark Fausz
Aug 13, 2008 - 2:47:12 PM

As traffic increases on my street, I’ve been contemplating a stockade fence across my front yard near the road. Not just one of those faux panel deals you can buy at Home Depot or Lowe’s, but the real thing, the type of stockade fence that Sir Thomas Dale had built across the Bermuda Hundred peninsula in the early 1600s. Eight inches in diameter and twelve-foot tall logs sunk into the ground and coming to a sharp point at the top.

I wonder if anyone could heave an empty beer can from their car over that sucker. I am quite sure that Wendy’s bags would bounce right off and end up back on the windshield of the culprit who launched their litter in my direction.

At one time, traffic was somewhat calm on my street. Although many of my neighbors had to use the road to access their own homes, it has now come to be a shortcut for those who do not live in my or any adjacent neighborhoods. And the people who don’t live in the neighborhood are typically the ones who exceed the speed limit, dump their trash, and behave like they’ve lived in a zoo their entire life.

So up goes the stockade. It would create a private place for Linda and me,  and our grandchildren could play outside in the front yard compound whenever they come over. The fear of them wandering into the street would be over.

The trouble with the compound thing, though, is that people always think you’re doing something you shouldn’t inside your fortress. First thing you know they’re hauling all my underage wives to safe houses and the fun is over. (Just kidding.)

The serious question is, would I get away with this exaggerated attempt at maintaining my privacy and establishing myself as a property rights advocate? Could I really do anything I want on my own property?

This has become a serious discussion in Chesterfield County. Just what do new zoning ordinances, comprehensive plan amendments, and neighborhood associations do to one’s right to enjoy his own piece of ground?

According to those who know about such things, “Property rights are protected in the current laws of states usually found in the form of a Constitution or a Bill of Rights. The fifth and the fourteenth amendments to the United States constitution, for example, provide explicitly for the protection of private property.”

The Fifth Amendment states in part:  “Nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
The Fourteenth Amendment states:  “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”

How does the right to enjoyment of one’s property affect the property rights of others? Zoning, one restriction on property rights, covenants another, even the land use recommendations through various comprehensive plans have an effect on just what you can and can’t do on your property.

Right now in Chesterfield, property rights seem to be front and center in the Swift Creek plan area. It is such a hot button issue that Chesterfield and its board of supervisors have been sued because their approval of the new plan for Swift Creek allegedly infringes on property rights. Restricting development in certain areas. The right to benefit from one’s property. 

On the other hand, folks in Centralia are worried that a 150-home development will ruin the historic nature of their village, which is one of the oldest in the county. Will the new cookie-cutter type homes reflect positively on property values in their area or does the developer have a right to enjoy a profit on his land?

Where do the property rights of one owner (right to develop) overlap with the right to of another to enjoy or benefit from their own property, which could be negatively impacted by development? There seems to be some gray areas and interpretation is often, left up to elected officials, and at times staff members of local, state and federal governments.

If a new road is to be built, does the advantage to others in the community override the loss of anothers enjoyment of his property? If land is zoned for a Wawa next to your house, does that unfairly devalue your home? Some would say it increases your property value, but only if you want to sell it.

Does longevity enter into the argument? Does one family who has lived on a particular piece of land for generations and a land speculator who has only bought the neigboring tract to flip it for a profit deserve the same rights?

These are things that I wonder about – gray areas.

Who can claim the highest right? The same goes for many of our other “rights.” Freedom of press vs. slander; the right to bear arms vs. endangering others; unreasonable searches and seizures or eavesdropping vs. homeland security.

Property rights, just like all other rights, are being interpreted in increasingly different ways. How will Chesterfield’s interpretation affect you? 

mfausz@villagepublishing.com | 751-0421


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