Land use expert warns of property rights infringement by “unelected bureaucrats” on the Charleston BAR

The Palmetto Business Daily discusses property rights infringement by the Charleston Board of Architectural Review with Marc Scribner. 

“The unelected bureaucrats on the Board of Architectural Review and nosy neighbors may have all sorts of warm and fuzzy feelings about proposed real estate projects,” said Scribner. “But it is still unconstitutional to deny property owners their due process rights.”

“Citizens should be concerned not only that government officials are repeatedly threatening their constitutional rights based on personal whims, but by the large expenditure of taxpayer dollars to defend these unnecessary and intrusive government actions in court,” said Scribner.

“Form-based codes combine many of the anti-growth principles of conventional zoning with the arbitrary aesthetic preferences generally expressed by historic preservation authorities,” explained Scribner. “The winners are professional planning bureaucrats and the ‘Not In My Backyard’ busybodies who tend to dominate public hearings.”

“As the courts are unlikely to protect property rights from local government predation, state legislatures must seriously examine the underlining zoning enabling statutes and seek substantial pro-market reforms,” he said.

Read the full article at Palmetto Business Daily.