Officials fear zoning bill possibilities
Local officials are girding themselves for an all-out assault on local zoning rights in the next Congress. A number of bills that would impinge on city and county siting authority fell just short in 1998.
The Property Rights Implementation Act, for instance, would have allowed developers to short-circuit the local zoning process and take their complaints about county or city foot-dragging straight to federal court. It passed the House but failed by a slight margin in the Senate last July.
The favorable votes came primarily from Republicans, but a handful of Democrats, including some of the more liberal members such as Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) also supported the bill. Any Republican congressional gains this month could make the measure a good candidate for passage in 1999.
Jerry Howard, senior staff vice president for the National Association of Home Builders, the chief proponent of the bill, says his members were energized, not deflated, by what happened in Congress. “That was the first time a property rights bill went to the floor of the Senate,” he says.
Wireless telephone companies also will replay their efforts to tie the hands of local zoning officials. Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), chairman of the House telecommunications committee, convinced the Commerce Committee to approve a bill that extends the reach of the 911 emergency telephone number system. That bill, the Wireless Communications and Public Safety Act, would allow a company that provides wireless telephone links to ask a federal agency to turn over a part of its property for construction of a transmission tower. The federal agency would have 60 days to do so, unless it could meet the stated requirements for refusal.
Local governments would have no say in the matter. Once the deal is complete, the company pays a fee to the federal agency. That fee then is transferred to a Wireless Communications and Public Safety Fund, which provides states with money for the improvement of 911 systems.
The National League of Cities was incensed that no one seemed to care that the Tauzin bill undermines the authority of local zoning officials. Still, a number of local government groups, including the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APSCO), supported the bill. “Not since 1968 has Congress lent such a powerful showcase to its concern for the credibility of 911,” says John Melcher, director of Greater Harris County 911 in Houston and an APSCO member.
Bob Fogel, associate legislative director for the National Association of Counties, points out that pro-Tauzin groups such as APSCO are made up of city and county employees, whose interests may be different from those of their employers. Naturally, he notes, directors of county 911 emergency response programs would be enthusiastic about a new 911 grant program.
Local decisions on the siting of churches, synagogues and mosques also will be under fire next year. The Religious Liberty Protection Act would essentially prevent local zoning ordinances from being applied to religious organizations.
The NLC thinks that language in the bill could be interpreted to mean that religious assemblies are exempt from neutral zoning regulations such as parking, historical preservation and lot size restrictions, which might present a “substantial burden” to the organization. Religious groups argue that NLC’s fears are overblown. However, given the number of fronts on which city and county zoning prerogatives are being challenged by Congress, mayors, city councils and county commissioners all can be excused for brooding over worst-case scenarios.