Planning Commissions are not known for their concern about property rights, but here we have the Coos Commissioners wondering about the injustice of losing zoning authority over projects within the county developed on Federal Lands.
The Coos planners already regulate zoning on the county’s 23 unincorporated areas, such as Millsfield, because they have no governmental body of their own.
But the question is whether Coos officials will have any control over private projects approved by the federal government on federal lands such as the White Mountain National Forest.
They get that a project on federal land for a “governmental” purpose is outside their jurisdiction, but the fun begins when the feds come along and say something like,
“…anything that the U.S. Forest Service approves on federal land is designed to meet a governmental goal…”
Boom!
Planning commissions impose rules with the force of law on incorporated places beneath them in the ‘food chain.’ Rules or rulings designed to meet the goals of the commission. So the US Forest Service’ choice of words should sound familiar.
And while I’m inclined to defer to more local control, oppose the abuse of federal lands by distant “monarchs,” and would happily disband almost any planning commission given the opportunity, this is a juicy irony.
