property rights

In North Carolina, the government can invoke eminent domain and seize private property even if reasonable alternatives exist to using this power. A recent Senate bill (SB 600) would allow conservation easement holders to challenge takings in court by requiring the government to prove that no prudent and feasible alternatives exist to condemnation of properties encumbered by conservation easements.

RALEIGH — Legislators can prove that they care as much about people as they do about open space, if they make a simple change to an eminent domain bill moving…

Either version (House or Senate) of the smoking ban bill is a major threat to personal freedom and property rights. The Senate is considering a bill that would prohibit smoking in “public places” and “places of employment,” such as restaurants. The House version has the same general prohibition, but it also would include a very narrow exception for businesses that do not serve or allow entry to minors.

RALEIGH — Lawmakers seeking real reform of the state’s flawed annexation law should tackle two critical issues that were not addressed properly in a study group’s final report. That’s the…

Even those commission members who would have wanted a proper definition of “meaningful services” had to oppose the weak definition provided to them by the legislative staff. The chair prohibited commission members from amending the definition. The recommendation was so weak that it would have allowed municipalities forcibly to annex areas without providing water and sewer service.

Click here to listen to Daren Bakst discussing this report. RALEIGH — North Carolina has an “extreme” annexation law that needs major reform. That’s the assessment of a John…

Forced annexation is a kind of city-initiated annexation that allows municipalities unilaterally to force citizens living in unincorporated areas into the municipalities. North Carolina has an extreme annexation law even among states classified by recent studies as forced-annexation states.

Real reform of the state’s regressive annexation law does not mean getting rid of annexation generally or even city-initiated annexation. However, it should mean getting rid of the practice of forced annexation that allows municipalities to unilaterally force individuals in unincorporated areas to live within the municipalities.

Chatham County’s proposed Corridor Overlay District ordinance, if adopted, represents a radical land-use plan that would allow county government to take control of over 23,000 acres of private land without financial compensation. The “Scenic Overlay” part of the ordinance would transfer over 23,000 acres of private property from private control by landowners to political control by planners and the most powerful interest group in the county.

RALEIGH — Chatham County landowners would bear the costs of a “radical” land-use plan designed to benefit a small, politically connected elite. That’s the conclusion of a new John Locke…