Congress ponders `Federal Zoning Act': critics of the Community Character Act say its passage would lead to federal infringement on the rights of state and local governments to manage growth on their own

0 Comments | Insight on the News, July 29, 2002 | by Pat Taylor

The $250 million proposal known benignly as the Community Character Act is small potatoes to Congress as five-year appropriations go. But it is huge in terms of shaping what this country will look like in the future. Called HR 1433 in the House and S 975 in the Senate, the proposal cleared its first hurdle in a near-secret Senate committee vote on April 24.

The Community Character Act would provide grants to states and tribal governments to develop "land-use plans" that use model "smart-growth" zoning statutes presented in a 2,000-page Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook. The guidebook was developed during the Clinton administration by the American Planning Association (APA) using almost $2 million in Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant money.

The Bush administration, including the two agencies likely to receive the grant monies, has voiced strong opposition to the plan. Other opponents, claiming the act would violate state and local autonomy and private-property rights, have dubbed it "The Federal Zoning Act." It also has been called the "APA Full Employment Act," since it "mandates the development of plans that are consistent with established professional land-use planning standards." Of course, the APA not only established these standards but also happens to be the only national land-use planning organization.

The guidebook and its enabling legislation were kept well under the radar screen until last fall when Nancie G. Marzulla, president of the Defenders of Property Rights, learned that HUD Secretary Mel Martinez was getting ready to give the guidebook the government's official blessing [see "Sacrificing Rights to Protect Property" May 13].

Marzulla and numerous other organizations, including the National Black Chamber of Commerce, wrote to Martinez urging him to reject the guidebook. The House Western Caucus, headed by Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.), called it a "backdoor attempt to squash property rights"

Martinez approved release of the guidebook anyway, but withheld any official imprimatur with disclaimers that it does not reflect the views or opinions of HUD. A letter from HUD Deputy Secretary Alphonso Jackson to Marzulla called the guidebook "an independent research effort" and claimed the agency had "very limited discretion either to approve or disapprove the content of the research."

The primary sponsor of the Senate version of the Community Character Act is liberal Republican Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island. When Patricia Callahan, president of the American Association of Small Property Owners (AASPO), wrote an op-ed for the Providence Journal noting that his bill represented "a top-down approach to land-use management" Chafee wrote a response, insisting that the bill "has a diverse number of bipartisan supporters." As evidence, he said cosponsor Sen. Bob Bennett, "a conservative, states-rights senator from Utah, would never endorse legislation that could undermine traditional property rights, or rob any community of control over its local affairs."

But the Senate bill's only other Republican cosponsor is fellow liberal Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. The remaining cosponsors are James Jeffords, an independent from Vermont, and six Democrats--Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, Max Cleland of Georgia, Carl Levin of Michigan, Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Robert Torricelli of New Jersey. Critics say all seven tend to be reliably on the side of big government.

Chafee's bill was scheduled for an April 12 vote before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by Jeffords. But a grass-roots effort was mounted, spearheaded by AASPO, Defenders of Property Rights and the American Land Rights Association (ALRA) and buoyed by a Callahan commentary in the Washington Times.

The vote was canceled, but the grassroots celebration was short-lived when it was rescheduled for April 24. Then, shortly before the posted 9:30 a.m. start of the committee meeting, the bill's assembled opponents were told the meeting place had been changed without notice as to time or place. It turns out the vote was held in a room closed to the public with Jeffords and the Democrats trying to push it through on a voice vote. Then, according to one of his aides, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) demanded a recorded vote, quipping: "I would like to make a statement for the record before we ramrod this through."

Joining Chafee, Lieberman, Specter and Jeffords in support of the land-grab proposal were Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Max Baucus of Montana, Harry Reid of Nevada, Bob Graham of Florida, Barbara Boxer of California, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Thomas R. Carper of Delaware and Jon Corzine of New Jersey. No surprises there.

Joining Inhofe in voting against the bill were Republican Sens. Michael Crapo of Idaho, Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, Christopher Bond of Missouri, George Voinovich of Ohio, Robert C. Smith of New Hampshire and John Warner of Virginia. Again, a left-right dichotomy.

The official reason given for the meeting's change of venue was that the full Senate was scheduled to vote on two important bills at the same time, and the Environment and Public Works Committee needed to meet closer to the Senate floor so it could conduct this business between votes. Baloney, says ALRA spokesman Mike Hardiman, who points out that the committee simply could have held its meeting after the two floor votes.