The Private Property Rights Institute held their first press conference today in launching their effort to defend landowner freedom. Their mission? To protect landowners from government overreach, regulations, and zoning restrictions that threaten freedom.
Speaking at the presser was the group’s executive director Charlie Kolean, Courtney Brady, the State Advocacy Director at the environmental group Evergreen Action, and John Gaskey, one of the few Republicans in Massachusetts’ State House of Representatives. Gaskey represents the Second Plymouth district, a rural constituency. This comes as the Private Property Rights Institute and Evergreen Action produced a report covering the impact of local government overreach when it comes to energy siting and how the regulations hurt land owners (read here).
The full press conference can be viewed below:
As all eyes are on the federal government, local governments and boards have become America’s forgotten legislatures. Most people don’t realize that their lives are far more likely to be derailed by some bureaucrat they’ve never heard of on a local zoning board than a national politician they see regularly on TV. People have long questioned whether or not they actually own their property when they endlessly have to pay property taxes on it – another question is whether or not you own your property if you can’t do whatever you want on it despite that.
When asked by the Populist Times what cases they felt best encapsulated government overreach at the local level, Kolean highlighted the case of Herm Cvetan, who operates a 200-acre farm in Pennsylvania. After he was approached by a solar developer with a proposal to lease his land he was enthused by the opportunity, only for the township enacted an ordinance that prohibits solar arrays on farmland whenever the electricity generated is sent to the grid. Just like that, the whims of a few bureaucrats derailed what would’ve been a massive opportunity for both parties.
When asked about any estimates on the economic impact of local government overreach, Kolean pointed out that the aforementioned project would’ve been a $200 million development, bringing in at least $20 million in tax revenue.
Last year the Private Property Rights Institute released a report “Analyzing the Impact of Regulations on Private Property Owners and the Economy” (read here).
Their key findings were that:
- State and local governments have added regulations too that often overlap, causing confusion, complicating compliance and increasing costs. This comes in addition to federal regulations tripling since 1970, with an average of 14,000 new regulations added per year.
- About 75% of U.S. residential land is zoned exclusively for single-family homes, limiting higher-density developments and exacerbating housing shortages.
- Regulations hamper infrastructure development. Regulations on cellular tower construction, for example, prevent property owners from benefiting financially while hampering connectivity and technological innovation. America could have had access to cellular networks 40 years earlier if the government had not resisted licensing the new technology that was first available in 1946.
- Regulations restrict energy production. Overregulation in oil, natural gas, solar, and wind energy production reduces landowners’ income opportunities and impedes national energy goals amid rising energy costs.
- Farmers are among the most affected, facing stringent regulations on land use, environmental compliance, and labor policies, undermining their competitiveness and profitability.
- More commonly politicized restrictions on land use include rent control, which reduces the supply of housing in the long run, and restrictions on short-term rentals, which reduce tourism.
The report offers a number of policy suggestions.
For cellular infrastructure, they recommend streamlining permitting processes with clear protocols and “shot clock” rules, standardizing zoning regulations with model ordinances and co-location incentives, enhancing stakeholder collaboration through public-private partnerships, providing financial incentives like tax breaks, and establishing aesthetic and safety guidelines based on sound science.
For oil and natural gas development, they suggest simplifying regulatory frameworks with efficient permitting, enhancing landowner engagement and rights through education and autonomy, implementing incentives for sustainable practices, and facilitating community involvement with benefit-sharing models.
All their policy suggestions come with the goal of balancing property owners’ rights with environmental and community needs.
The Private Property Rights Institute is focused on researching local property rights issues, providing public outreach, and giving local campaign support to those in need. For those on the receiving end of government overreach, they have a new lifeline.
