Poll of neighbors required for zoning change?

On Sep 2, 7:08 am, se...@panix.com (Seth) wrote:
> In article <q3vfd3t3b5atnf0aha4ee21t2fe3tfr...@4ax.com>,
> Mike Jacobs  <mjacobs...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >I have never heard of being required
> >to take a poll of the neighbors, asking "what do you think of Joe's
> >new home improvement project?" as though zoning were some kind of
> >popularity contest.
>
> I have.  In the town my parents live in, somebody applied for
> permission to build a fence, which required polling his neighbors.
> Nobody objected, so he got permission.  Then fence was hideously ugly
> (or at least, very brightly-colored) (which is why I heard about it).
> The neighbors objected, and were told they were too late.

Around here, the law takes care of the same function by a "posting" requirement, where the landowner who applies for a zoning variance has to put up a sign at a designated location to inform the neighbors of that fact, and to announce the deadline for filing protests and provide contact information for those who wish to do so.  Those neighbors who care enough about it to make a fuss will do so; the others may well not even bother to read the sign, and will remain clueless.

I suppose one could argue which method better balances the competing interests at stake -- those of the landowner, and those of his neighbors who may be affected by his proposed new use of his land -- but IMO a requirement to poll each of the adjacent owners to see what they think about the project is both unduly onerous in terms of cost and time, and will also skew the results against the project by bringing out protests from people who really don't care much -- the ones who may not like it, but don't care enough to take steps on their own to read the posting, and file a protest.

What if at every marriage ceremony, instead of the "speak now or forever hold your peace" cliche, the minister individually asked each of those assembled to witness the event, "what do you REALLY think about Jack and Suzie?"

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Mike Jacobs
LAW OFFICE OF W. MICHAEL JACOBS
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