Supreme Court should further affirm importance of property rights

[Elderberry]

The Hill by Oliver Dunford 9/25/2019

Dartmond and Esther Cherk owned three acres of residentially-zoned investment property in Marin County, Calif. They wanted to divide the property into two lots, sell one and use the proceeds to build a retirement home on the other. Easy, right? Far from it.

After nearly 20 years of back-and-forth with Marin County to determine how they could use their land, the Cherks finally received permission for their modest development plan — but only on the condition that they first pay a fee of almost $40,000, which the county claims will help alleviate its affordable-housing crisis. The Cherks have asked the U.S. Supreme Court — which recently emphasized that property rights are just as important as everything else in the Bill of Rights — to review their case and establish that property rights include protection against the type of extortion attempted by Marin County.

Everyone agrees that California has sky-high home prices and an affordable-housing crisis. But as the Cherks’ dilemma shows, this crisis exists because government, instead of allowing more home construction, burdens property owners and developers with costly and counterproductive regulations. The government-created scarcity of housing is the problem. Local governments have all the power they need to alleviate it if only they would allow more homes to be built.

More: https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/462360-supreme-court-should-further-affirm-importance-of-property-rights

[PeteS in CA]

The most insane housing prices in California are in the SF Bay Area, which includes part or all of San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano, Napa, Sonoma, and .......... Marin Counties. Marin County is just across the Golden Gate Strait and Bridge from SF. If their parcel were 1/3 or 1/2 acres, I could understand there being some hassle over subdividing their property, but not for three acres! The county's costs would be limited to doing a proper survey and waving their paper wand to update their records. Costs like power, water, and sewer hook-ups and access would be borne by the the owners, with some permit fees.

This 20 years' delay and  $40K shake-down reeks of NIMBY and corrupt politicians and bureaucrats.

[PeteS in CA]

And, yes, California's generally and the SF Bay Area's high housing prices are largely due to government-created housing scarcity.