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February 22, 2006

Property rights in Oregon

The Oregon Supreme Court ruled yesterday that Measure 37 is constitutional, overturning a lower court ruling.

Approved by 61 percent of voters in November 2004, the measure gives property owners the right to ask a government agency to either pay for lost property value because of zoning changes or provide a waiver of the offending land-use regulation.

I'm sympathetic to the property rights argument inherent in measure 37. And that's how it was sold to Oregonians in 2004. It's mighty appealing to think that the little guy can strike a blow against the all-powerful machine of government. What red-blooded individualist could fail to respond to the idea that a property owner shouldn't have his or her property value affected in any way, shape or form by bureaucratic mechinations, particularly out here in the West?

The problem with Measure 37 is that it's not about property rights. It's about developers rights to profit. If it were about property rights then to be consistent it would have to not only require that any valuation deficit be addressed and rectified, as it does, but that any valuation surplus also be addressed. Meaning that property which increased in value as a direct result of zoning laws is part and parcel of the very same property rights argument and ought to be addressed. That it wasn't proves that Measure 37 was never about property rights in the first place.

Posted by Kevin at February 22, 2006 07:25 AM