Big Government Is Alive and Well in Virginia

While we are all bemoaning the overreach of power in our nation’s capital, we need look no further than our own Virginia General Assembly for a classic example in this year’s session of an overt attempt to grow government and government control.

A trifecta effort by Senators Saslaw, Obenshain and Delegate Todd Gilbert, SB 549 and HB 770 seek to essentially remove the tools from local government which are used to alleviate the residential growth burden from the tax payer. If these bills pass, citizens could very well find themselves paying for at least a part of schools, fire and rescue and other services for new residences, while the developers walk away with the cash.

The bills also seek to control the outcome of court cases on behalf of aggrieved developers who wish to extricate themselves from proffers which they feel were unreasonable. Adding insult to injury, under the guise of “affordable housing,” the bills seek to also regulate the type of building materials used, making it more difficult for building officials in localities to hold developers feet to the fire in poorly constructed homes.

I won’t bore you long on Caroline’s woes with developers. These include the proffer of a mythical “train station” in a swamp (no…. the train does not come to Caroline) which we must pay to build ourselves, if a train ever does miraculously appear here.

Moving on, one of our first residential developers was an interesting fellow who proffered a school site he never owned, went bankrupt and moved to Florida. The latest NOVA developer who has terrorized Caroline for nearly five years, and who wants to build a subdivision/pig farm/rural resort/campground/gravel mine/and/or super duper Trump-like Mansion is a subject for another day. How ironic that the November election in Caroline sent home 20 plus year Democrat incumbents who had their thumb out on I-95 to any developer who would pay for a golf game and steak dinner, and now this.

While our General Assembly takes up the cause of a special interest group, where is an advocate for our citizens in this matter? Residential housing for local government is revenue negative so don’t be fooled into thinking this is some kind of business development incentive for Virginia.

Apparently Caroline is not alone and the comments from other localities on the myriad of issues this will create for the local citizenry speak for themselves. They can be found at the impact statements at the bottom of SB 549 and I would urge the reader to take a look at these and at the excellent recap by the RTD linked below.

One impact statement is so profound in its simplicity it bears calling out. It essentially reiterates the Republican mantra of free enterprise. If a developer is not able to pitch and strike the right deal with a locality, he is free to move to another. Trying to fix this across the board in a diverse Commonwealth is a recipe for disaster.

My closing question would again be while our GOP representatives are advocating for one particular special interest group, who is advocating for the Virginia tax payer and why in the world do our legislators continue to be so completely disconnected from local government? They appear quickly enough when its reelection time to piggy back on local connections and influence.

Read more in the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Update:
In a sad move today, Republican legislators abandoned our basic hands off principles and bailed out the housing industry. The word that this started as a slap on the wrist to a few chosen localities who were demanding and banking proffer money for other projects, apparently was not correct as counties with high density residential development were stricken from the bill leaving the little guys like Caroline and its tax payers on the defensive. Leaving out the offending counties speaks volumes and punishes those who were trying to make the best deals for the tax payers. I would guess that the Homebuilders wanted the whole ball of wax and throwing the less prosperous of us to the wolves is only a partial victory, but will certainly make us more of a target. I do know that Caroline Delegates, Orrock and Ransone voted against the bill, two legislators who have always had a deep understanding and respect for local government. The deed is done, but might I remind our legislators how free market business works. If the demands in one county were too stringent, the smart, viable business owner is free to take his/her project elsewhere. The market will then take care of those counties who actually want residential development, but have been unreasonable……………..They simply won’t get offered the projects and will have to make adjustments on their own.

Yep the free market, remember that good old fashioned basic principle folks? So with this can of worms opened, what industry will be next to get a fix from the GA?

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