[Capr-announce] CAPR News December 2009

Mon Dec 28 14:50:09 PST 2009

CAPR NEWS

THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FROM CITIZENS’ ALLIANCE FOR PROPERTY RIGHTS

December, 2009

Supreme Court Rules for Whatcom Property Owners

The Washington Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by the extremist group,
Futurewise, to impose harsh density restrictions on rural Whatcom Co.
property owners.  The December 17th ruling in the case of Gold Star Resorts,
Inc. v. Futurewise overturned a Growth Management Hearings Board (GMHB)
ruling that would have imposed the restrictions.

The restrictions in question would have forced Whatcom Co. to adopt a
uniform, low density limit – no more than one dwelling per five acres – in
the county’s rural areas.  In addition to the fact that the restrictions
would have severely limited new development, they would also have made some
already-existing land uses “noncompliant”, opening up a whole other set of
problems.  In the unanimous decision, the Court ruled that the GMBH had
overstepped its bounds in ruling against the County.

Once again, we have a golden example of why the Washington Growth Management
Act needs reform.  Time and again in the last couple of years we have seen
the Court overturn a GMHB ruling saying that it had overstepped its
authority.  Like those other cases, the Court ruled that the Board could not
take away a county’s right to set its own lawful growth policies.
Especially the GMBH’s.  The Boards are appointed by the Governor, which is
question mark in and of itself.  We won’t speculate here whether the Boards
have short memories of past Court rulings, a substantive lack of knowledge
of the law or an agenda of their own.

You can read the ruling here <http://www.courts.wa.gov/favicon.ico> 

Fred Kelly Grant to Keynote 2010 Banquet

Nationally recognized property rights activist Fred Kelly Grant will provide
the keynote Speech at the 2010 CAPR Banquet.  Mr. Grant is President of
Stewards of the Range, now American Stewards of Liberty
<http://www.stewards.us/>  and is the chief architect of a strategy known as
“Coordination”.

Mr. Grant is a lawyer who has practiced at various levels including as
Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Maryland.  He currently
owns a land use consulting firm in Idaho.

The Coordination process allows small local governments, including school
districts, fire districts, etc. to force federal agencies to bring federal
projects in line with LOCAL policies and plans.  Local citizens, through
these local governments can then bring control of public land use into
conformance with local needs, prevent federal projects from being forced
upon them and generally protect their property rights from overstepping
bureaucrats.  The process was used successfully to stop a large project
known as the Texas Corridor.  Coordination may be one of the tools used to
stop the proposed, massive Y2Y - Yukon to Yellowstone project.

Y2Y is a project being pushed by environmentalists to conserve a corridor
down the spine of the Rocky Mountains from the Yukon Territory to
Yellowstone National Park.  On first glance, the project doesn’t appear
overly threatening until you get into the details.  Along with the corridor
would come huge restricted buffers on each side.  Not only would Y2Y take
huge tracts of Montana, Idaho, and some of Washington, it is also part of
the much larger “Wildlands Network” (formerly called the “Wildlands
Project”).  The ultimate goal of that initiative is to remove fifty percent
of North America from all human contact and place another twenty-five to
thirty percent under highly regulated use.  The Y2Y restrictions would swipe
property rights of those in the buffers, without compensation you can be
sure.

You won’t want to miss this.  The Banquet is scheduled for March 20th.
Registration details will be coming out in early January.

King Co. Chapter Has Director Slot Available

The King Co. Chapter has an open Director’s position available.  If you are
a King Co. member of CAPR and interested in applying for this appointed
position, please contact President Rick Forschler.  

Stretch Your Donation!

If you are considering making a donation to CAPR, you can make it count
double now.  Several donors have pledged $1,000 each in matching donations.
If you donate, they will match your gift dollar for dollar while funds last.
Plan to add CAPR to your year-end giving.  CAPR and CAPR PAC are especially
in need currently.  However, if you are looking for a tax deduction, the
CAPR Legal Fund is your choice.

You can donate by going to www.capr.us <http://www.capr.us/>  and clicking
on the Donate tab.

Also, if you plan to join or renew your CAPR membership for 2010, note that
memberships that arrive in November and December count towards next year.
Help us help you!

CAPR Election Nominations

The CAPR Nominating Committee is accepting names of individuals who are
interested in serving on the Executive Board.  One must be a CAPR member and
have a serious interest in property rights.  A strong constitution is also
helpful(!)  If you or someone you want to recommend is interested, please
send a brief bio to darcors at comcast.net by January 4th.  The goal is to have
multiple candidates for each position for the election to be held in the
first quarter of 2010.  We are especially interested in candidates from
outside King Co.

Meetings and Events

Grant Co. Monthly Meeting

The Grant Co. Chapter holds its monthly meetings at 7:00 PM every third
Wednesday of the month at Bob’s Café located at 1807 Kittleson Rd. in Moses
Lake.  Come early for dinner and conversation.

King Co. Monthly Meeting  

Meetings of the King Co. Chapter are held on the first Thursday of the
month.  The next meeting will be held at 7:00 PM, Thursday, January 7th.
The meeting site will be the IHOP Restaurant located at 1433 NW Sammamish
Rd. in Issaquah.  This month’s guest will be Bellevue City Councilwoman
Jennifer Robertson.  Consider coming early for dinner and conversation.

Pierce Co. Monthly Meeting

The Pierce County Chapter holds its monthly meetings at 7:00 PM on the
second Thursday of every month.  The meeting location is the Paradise
Village Bowl Conference Room located at 12505 Pacific Ave. S. in Tacoma.
For more information you can send email to piercecapr at yahoo.com or call
President Wendy Birnbaum at 253-677-0612.

San Juan Monthly Meeting

The San Juan Chapter holds its monthly meeting on the first Tuesday of the
month at 6:00 PM.  The meeting is held at the San Juan Island Grange Hall.
For more info on CAPR San Juan, visit www.CAPR-SanJuan.org
<http://www.capr-sanjuan.org/> .

Donate to CAPR Online

You can now donate to CAPR online.  Go to www.capr.us <http://www.capr.us/>
(same as proprights.org) and click on the DONATE tab.  Even as a volunteer
organization, the level of funding available determines what we can
accomplish in the fight to preserve and protect property rights.  Help us
help you.  Donate!

Matching Contributions

If you work for a company, which adds matching funds to charitable
contributions, remember the CAPR Legal Fund.  All donations to the Legal
Fund are tax deductible and the additional contribution by your employer
makes leverages your contribution towards protecting your property rights.

Jeff Wright

Secretary, CAPR

E-mail:        darcors at comcast.net 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.celestial.com/mailman/private/capr-announce/attachments/20091228/cc48e45d/attachment-0001.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 7958 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mailman.celestial.com/mailman/private/capr-announce/attachments/20091228/cc48e45d/attachment-0001.jpe 