Jack and Mary and the Beanstalks
by Ken Graham
This is the story of Jack and Mary. They were neighbors. Mary's land was on the east side of Jack's land, and to the east of Mary's land were the beautiful Purple Mountains, in all their majesty. Jack loved his view of the Purple Mountains, which he could only see by looking across Mary's land. It was because of this view that Jack bought his property.
One day Mary decided to start growing beans. (Growing beans was allowed on her land under her county's current zoning code.) She planted a long row of beanstalks along the west edge of her property, and soon those beanstalks grew so tall that they interfered with Jack's view of the Purple Mountains. Jack thought the beanstalks were grotesque and ugly, and now he was mad.
Bob was a real estate broker in the county where Jack and Mary lived. Bob told Jack that because his view of the Purple Mountains had been compromised, the value of his property had dropped by 10%. Bob also told Mary that because of the prosperous bean farm she had started, the value of her property had increased by 20%.
Jane was the County Planner in the county where Jack and Mary and Bob lived. Jack demanded that Jane add a clause to the county's zoning code outlawing tall beanstalks if they could be seen from a neighbor's property. This was needed, he said, to protect neighbors' property values from being depressed by view-impeding beanstalks. Now Mary was mad. She claimed that this restriction would make her bean farm unprofitable, and her property's value would be greatly reduced. Pity poor Jane.
Joe was a lawyer in the county where Jack and Mary and Bob and Jane lived. Joe explained to Jane that when a person owns land, they also own the airspace above their land. A neighboring property owner does not have an inherent legal right to the view through his or her neighbor's airspace. A view is an "incidental benefit", he said, and not a "property right". (Joe talked like a lawyer, which was very annoying to Jane.)
Jane also knew that, while counties may impose zoning ordinances to restrict people's use of their property (including the airspace above it), these ordinances are intended to be used only when there is an overall benefit to the community. If imposing a zoning ordinance simply increases the value of one property and at the same time decreases the value of a neighboring property by taking away a property right from the neighbor (such as the use of her airspace), without providing an overall benefit to the community, it isn't a good idea.
Jane talked to many people in the county and found that a small vocal group felt the giant beanstalks were hideous and ugly and that views should be protected, even if it meant taking away some landowners' property rights. Most people Jane spoke with thought that the beanstalks were not ugly (some thought they were beautiful) and were a symbol of prosperity, and that all of the economic benefits to the county from the new bean industry were a wonderful thing. Jane drew a big sigh, knowing that there was no way she could please everyone. But to Jane, it was obvious that an overall benefit to the community could not be gained by restricting the property rights of bean farmers like Mary. And she knew from talking to Joe that even though a view may add value to a piece of property, a view is not a "property right". So Jane decided against the new zoning ordinance. She felt it was always better to err on the side of preserving property rights.
Ken was a newspaper editor in the county where Jack and Mary and Bob and Jane and Joe and all of the other people lived. Ken was the only person in the county who enjoyed all of this controversy, since it provided lots of material for his newspaper.
Copyright (c) 2007, Blue Mountain News