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by J. Reed Mackley The Great Land Shift in Utah
by J. Reed Mackley
The Early American’s fear of having the land under the control of Government was paramount. They knew that land control made the difference between slavery and serfdom on the one hand, and prosperity and freedom on the other.
In the early days of America our ancestors were leaving the old world and coming here where it was possible to be a land owner. Where they came from, the land was held in control by a few of the very rich and powerful. They knew that control of the land was also control of the people, their wealth, and their freedom.
After the Revolutionary War ended, Washington kept the army together for another year until the British troops were actually off the land A few years later when the representatives of the people were meeting to establish their government, one of the provisions of agreement was that the Federal Government would not have control of the land except for a ten mile square piece of land that did not exist in any state (DC) and whatever other land was necessary for purpose of, “Erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards and other needful buildings”(Constitution, Article I, Section 8). They also stipulated that the Federal government could not even obtain that land without the consent of the State. Their fear of having the land under the control of Government was paramount. They knew that land control made the difference between slavery and serfdom on the one hand, and prosperity and freedom on the other.
The Federal property in the early states in the East was kept to probably less than 1 percent of the total, but as time went on the Congress began to subvert the original agreement in the Constitution. They started holding the new developing states to the west hostage by requiring them to give increasingly more land to the Federal government. The agreement with such states as Ohio changed such that the states could have the jurisdiction on the land as soon as citizens bought it from the federal government. However, gradually even that stipulation fell by the way side. Thus when Utah came into existence as a state, 66 percent of the land was held out from the people. Nevada is 87 percent, and Alaska is 96 percent Federal land. The control of these lands by present day federal government agencies and bureaucracies has locked up vast resources in flagrant disregard of the contract with the people.
The shift in control of land and resources from private ownership to state and city government has also been relentless. In our cities, the title of the property is generally still in the name of the citizens, but the use is controlled by the local government. For Utah’s first 100 years the cities and towns developed very well under private property ownership and control. Then in the 1950’s, a practice of appointing a planning commission developed. This was actually a pretext as the commissions did very little if any planning, but were actually private property control boards. To support this control, the cities have continually increased ordinances. One of the first was a building permit requirement. Then subdivision requirements were eventually applied even to a single lot development. This ordinance made it illegal for a landowner to sell a piece of land without approval of the city government. This had the effect of decreasing the availability of developable land supply and increasing land prices to the point that most people would never be free from a mortgage. Next to come was an occupancy permit ordinance.
Zoning ordinances have had immense impact on the use of the land. The zoning ordinances were touted as being essential to orderly development, but have been reversed from time to time as they proved to be more problematic than helpful. Recently many cities are even passing ordinances to control building color and architectural style. Within the last 10 years most of the cities have started even more invasive new ordinances to create Economic Development Areas and Re-Development Agencies where-in the cities are using eminent domain powers to take control of the private land.
Many state and federal laws support or mandate the land and resource use control by cities and counties. Examples of this are the State Water Board with licensing permits to access unused water, and the Environmental Protection Agency with requirements for non-use of wetlands.
All these factors over time have shifted the ownership and control of the land from the citizen to the government. The speed of the shift seems to be increasing, and there appears to be no end in sight. |