Supporters call it “preservation.” Opponents, however, call it goverment-imposed limitations on property rights. We’re talking about what one writer calls the “neutron bomb of zoning wars” in Chapel Hill: the Neighborhood Conservation District. In this excellent column published in the Chapel Hill News, Mark Zimmerman, president-elect of the Greater Chapel Hill Association of Realtors, explains the many costs of this set of zoning restrictions, including its impact on property rights.
Lastly, there’s an intangible, yet important casualty of the NCD. Every time we ask the government to regulate another aspect of our lives, we sacrifice some of our liberty. The NCD abridges our freedom to use the property we own. We don’t need to be reminded today that liberty is a precious, and fragile, commodity. Rights are a non-renewable resource we shouldn’t deplete without special cause.
