Property rights - or profits?

What are property rights? When someone moves into a primarily residential area in which they are permitted to keep some horses by right, they have a right to the peaceful enjoyment of their property. They have a right to keep a few horses, ride along the roadside, and enjoy the companionship of like-minded neighbors.

Unfortunately, our last Board of County Commissioners felt differently about property rights. They changed the ordinances so the same peaceful residential zone could be used to operate commercial and even industrial businesses on the property by right. My private road has been destroyed by the heavy trucks pounding it into a morass of potholes, damaging vehicles falling into the pits. The dust, created by destroying the gravel roads, causes respiratory diseases for the horses. The commercial traffic, on roads designed for residential use, makes riding along the roadside unsafe as the trucks startle the horses. All in the name of property rights, exclusively the economic right to make a profit by changing the way the property is used.

What about the people we elect who so vehemently promise to protect our property rights? Bob Bingham, that property rights warrior, gave us the commercialization of our rural property as a part of his movement to eliminate government involvement. When asked about the rights of a neighbor when a developer’s cheap, substandard private road, not up to fire code, prevents access to fire fighting equipment responding to a fire, causing the fire to spread and burn down the neighbor’s house, his answer was to let the neighbor sue him. An odd response denying responsibility for his actions and then turning to the same government he wanted out of our lives to resolve his issue.

But this must be an aberration, right? Sadly, it is not.

The chairman of the Republican Central Committee, Brent Regan, who has claimed to represent all the Republicans in the county, has decided to make money by selling his properties as the Regan Ranch Air Park. Never mind the noise and potential safety issues for the neighbors. He has a right to change the use of his property to make more money. But this story goes deeper.

Years ago, a neighbor bought a piece of land at a tax auction. Our property rights leader, Mr. Regan, denying his neighbor’s property rights, sued, claiming that he had a right to use his neighbor’s land. Losing his argument, he appealed all the way to the Idaho Supreme Court repeatedly, where he still lost. But defending property rights, Brent Regan approached the Legislature to change the law, which they did. Using the new law, Brent went back to court, where real property rights won and he promptly lost his case yet again. Interestingly, as a property rights defender, Mr. Regan sought to violate his neighbor’s property rights for his own personal, financial gain.

Where does this one-sided view of property rights come from? Over the years, many people, like Bob and Brent, have moved here from the People’s Republic of California seeking freedom. Unfortunately, some of those, having seen the huge profits made by speculators and developers in California, want to change Idaho to allow them to make such profits here. They are using the same tactics that were effective in destroying California: Purchase land cheap, influence legislative bodies to change the use to higher density, increase the price, and make similar profits from their influence.

Don’t be fooled by the property rights mantra. Kootenai County is being California-ized by these greedy transplants who missed out on the profits before and want to make sure they don’t miss out again. When someone wants power, and claims to be a property rights supporter, we need to ask “What and whose property rights enjoy primacy? Do you really want to protect the rural lifestyle which many want? Or, do you want to destroy this county in the name of profits, making it into the same morass which many fled once before?”

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Dave Botting, B.Sc., Accounting; MBA; has nearly 40 years experience in Management Accounting, including fund accounting, and 23 years as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of international manufacturing companies.