Clear Shortfall In Being Reasonable There’S A Better Way Arbitrary Land Grabs Violate Constitution.

“… nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.” So says the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The founders who wrote it were familiar with governmental grabbiness and arbitrary regulations. They intended to limit government’s powers and return freedom to the people.

However, government still has the urges with which King George inspired the American Revolution.

Consider, for example, the proposal to prohibit development within 250 feet of shorelines. This proposal comes from unelected rule writers in the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and the planning department of the City of Spokane. It represents an effort to comply with vague words in the state Growth Management Act.

The goal, which gives advocates such a swollen sense of virtue that they overlook the Constitution, is admirable: Protect shorelines for all to enjoy, from polliwogs to a capitalist on a noon-hour stroll.

But there are ways to do this without violating the Constitution or pitting nature lovers in a win-lose battle with those who also appreciate human habitation and development.

In fact, 250 feet is an arbitrary dictate, not a “scientific” one. Why not 57 meters? Why not 25.3 furlongs, to accommodate deer who’d like to visit Spokane Falls without a need to fight the traffic?

Virtue does not belong only to salamanders and weeds. Had this rule been in place 30 years ago, it might have threatened the Centennial Trail, Riverfront Park, the Opera House, Riverpoint, the sewage treatment plant and a variety of lovely hotels, restaurants, private homes and golf courses.

Today, it threatens similar enhancements that lie in our future, such as Metropolitan Mortgage’s Summit project on the north river bank downtown.

If government demands 250-foot shoreline buffers, it ought to comply with the Constitution and pay for the land.

A wiser course is to design rules with flexibility, coupled with tax incentives and grants. This approach inspires voluntary cooperation. Any honest look at our region’s shorelines reveals miles of reasonably healthy habitat. It also reveals cities that rightly strive to blend shoreline industry with interludes of beauty and peace. The argument isn’t about whether, it’s about how. It is when regulators get dictatorial that they make enemies for a good cause.