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Posted by David Sherman on Saturday, January 10, 2009 at 01:50:31 :
In Reply to: Re: O.T. Zoning---Zero Tollerance posted by Brett in AK on Saturday, January 10, 2009 at 00:15:51 :
Yes, it is a touchy subject. The man has ONE (1) vehicle that's intact, but not currently licensed. I hardly think that's a "junk yard". As for a "nice clean yard", you're welcome to keep yours as clean as you want, and if you don't want to look at anybody else's junk, buy up the property around you, but why is there a "need" for laws to protect your aesthetic sensibilities from being offended because you choose to point your eyeballs at something you think is ugly?
Once you start down that road, there's no end to it. There's a good reason to regulate junk that's truly a fire hazard, or garbage that attracts rats (or bears), since it can very easily cause damage the adjacent property, but unsightly (to you) junk is not in the same category. I know at this point all the people that want such rules complain that one person's junk "lowers their property value", but the government is not liable for lowered property values because of their zoning, codes, enforcement, or whatever. If you have a view home and somebody buys the lot in front of you and builds a house that blocks your view, it reduces your property value more than anybody's "junk" would, but you have no recourse against either the government or the person who blocked your view. To me, visual "blight" is like p.o.r.n. -- if you don't like it, don't look at it. Noise and smell are different matters because you can't avoid them, but a neighbor's junky yard is easy to avoid.
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