President's Message

We are gratified that many of you were able to make our annual meeting on the 26th of September.

John Bird, our opening guest speaker from Lexington, provided eye opening comments about the many frightening elements of "smart growth", and the effect it has had on Fayette County. Though Fayette County has the 3rd highest, per capita, income of all our counties, it ranks 120th (last place) in the percent of citizens owning their own home! This is due to the "smart growth" restrictions that inflate the cost of land to such a high value that few can afford homes there.

The American Planning Association has completed their study of the Commonwealth of Kentucky land usages. 6.7%, of Kentucky land is developed! This includes areas using considerable land such as golf courses and parks. If my math is correct that's 93.3%, UNDEVELOPED! Hardly reason to be concerned with "smart growth". Even "dumb growth" discussions would seem inappropriate use of our public officials' time and our tax dollars at this time of our state's development.

Perry Arnold, keynote speaker, gave inspiring comments about our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Particularly enlightening were his insights about our Kentucky Constitution. It becomes obvious this is a document you and I should spend some time reading. Anyone wanting a copy call me at the League office.

Exciting times ahead for the League! Watch for announcements about our growth in the spring bulletin!

Overview of League Activity & Success

Since its inception in 1996, the LEAGUE OF KENTUCKY PROPERTY OWNERS has involved itself in numerous issues ranging from local planning and zoning initiatives to state and national property rights legislation. This year, while it has been a fairly calm year in terms of legislative activity, the Board of Directors has focused its attention on protecting your private property rights by participating in community discussion forums sponsored by the Governor's Task Force on Smart Growth and the Boone County Study on the Purchase of Development Rights and Transfer of Development Rights.

As an example of our continuing resolve, the League has concentrated the bulk of its time and energies in the following 3 areas:

1. On the National level, the League was committed to stopping a massive tax and spend land grab bill that would have siphoned off billions of dollars from taxpayers in order to purchase more land for the public domain, which as we know already encompasses more than 1/3 of this nation's land mass. Officially entitled the Conservation and Reinvestment Act, (CARA), this bill would have drastically advanced federal influence on state lands while also providing a venue through which a new taxing mechanism could be created for the expansion and benefit of Big Brother. Fortunately, combined with the efforts of numerous other property rights organizations throughout the nation, this bill was narrowly defeated. On the down side, many of this bill's weaker components were later stealthily enacted through executive credo or attached to other largely unrelated spending bills. Nevertheless, our victory did prove to be a splinter in the side to those who perpetually wage war against the sound principles of private property ownership. But alas, the fight is far from over as CARA has returned yet again this year for another showdown!

2. At the state level, the League once again fought valiantly for the passage of our own bill - the Property Rights Protection Act of 2000 - sponsored by Representative Perry Clark (D) of Louisville and Senator Ernie Harris (R) of Crestwood. The Property Rights Protection Act passed through House Judiciary Committee by an vote of 10-0 on Friday, March 10, 2000. As soon as Governor Patton discovered that the Bill was a Property Rights Protection Act, it never reached the full House floor for a vote.

3. Perhaps our biggest, most direct success of the past year came with our principled opposition to and leadership efforts surrounding the adoption of the Boone County Comprehensive Plan Update of 2000. At the December Planning & Zoning Public Hearing several property rights supporters appeared before Commission members to advocate the importance of property rights in a free society and urged them to eliminate subversive text that would have left the flood gates open for socialist control of our land. With a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd spilling out of the courtroom doors, more than 250 people packed the public hearing to express their concern regarding a number of issues affecting Boone Countians. And, unlike the previous public hearing, where anti-sprawl zealots outnumbered property rights advocates by more than 2 to 1, this time it was private property rights supporters who were clearly in the majority.

The closure of the December public hearing appeared to result in back-to-back victories for property rights advocates, (although outnumbered, the League actually prevailed in October by convincing Planning & Zoning Commissioners to strike text that would have called for an urban services boundary), but the victory was only marginal. After the votes were tallied by the Boone County Planning & Zoning Commission in January, the final draft of the 2000 Goals & Objectives contained only about half of the League's suggested revisions.

To many of our members, especially the board members, it sometimes seems that our efforts are futile, or that victories are few and far between. But through perseverance and prayer, we maintain hope that our mission to defend constitutional property rights shall be vindicated through the dissemination of credible information, irrefutable evidence, and ultimately, the power of Truth...

william h. adkisson,
President
League of Kentucky Property Owners

Urban Sprawl Debate

The urban sprawl debate should be a non-issue. For the most part, the problem has been trumped up by environmentalists who oppose all forms of economic development, and are looking for another way to impose their anti-human agenda on us.

Hence, in the name of improving our lives, the environmentalists propose ways to restrict our lives even more. Some have been tempted because the traffic problems are real, and sometimes people don't like the look of commercial development when it occurs on major thoroughfares.

In their political efforts, the environmentalists have often been able to count on existing homeowners and existing businesses to help shut down development. This isn't entirely surprising because current owners can expect to enjoy an increase in the value of their property (less supply, more demand), while existing businesses appreciate having potential competition curbed, thus gaining a monopoly privilege. In other words, the anti-sprawl contingent is working with property owners and the business class to lock up the economy so they can enjoy unjust profits at the expense of future competitors and homeowners. Ironic, isn't it?

But what is to be done about traffic congestion in places where the population is increasing too quickly for the existing infrastructure to support it? And what can be done about clustered and unsightly commercial development?

In the former case, the problem is one of public ownership. If the streets and utilities were owned and developed privately, the laws of supply and demand would match infrastructure with development.

It is well known that clustered development is often the result of excessively strict zoning that pushes development into areas close to the city but just outside the controlled part. If zoning were loosened, businesses would scatter based on economic rather that political considerations.

But in other cases, zoning isn't the issue at all. Businesses like to be near other businesses and they want to be in plain view of the consuming public. More often than not, that is the explanation of "strip malls." What can be done about them? We need a change in values. We should look at commercial society as something that is a benefit to human beings and therefore good in itself.

Down with the assumption that pristine swamps, jungles, and thickets are somehow morally superior to economic development for man! And down with the idea that we are better off serving political masters than having private enterprise serve us!

Sometimes those from the Left invent problems to fool us into falling for socialist schemery. The sprawl issue is one such case. Thank goodness voters are starting to catch on: last year's election produced several huge defeats across the nation for the environmentalists who seek greater control over our lives by greater government control over the economy.

A League Admirer

U.K. Smart Growth Study is Flawed

Taken from Builder Briefs, October 15, 2001

University of Kentucky Professor Mark C. Berger's recently released report, "Smart Growth and the Costs of Sprawl in Kentucky", commissioned by Governor Patton, fails to provide a comprehensive and essential "two-sides" to the issue of suburbanization.

Professor Berger admits that he was charged by the Governor's Office with developing a report that focused only on the costs of sprawl and not on any of the benefits, such as increased tax dollars, job growth, higher household incomes and greater consumer services.

The report would have been much more beneficial to the state's smart growth discussions if it had included both a cost, as well as a benefit analysis. Additionally, the report gives the unfounded impression that expenditures for public services such as fire, police, roads, sewers and garbage pickup are always less expensive in core urban areas, which is not the case in Northern Kentucky.

Comparing booming Boone County (with a population of 85,000 people) and tiny Spencer County (which only has a few thousand people and very little business activity) in terms of costs of services, is unrealistic. In Boone County's case, average public service costs have actually decreased with population increases.