HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

Zoning vs. Eminent Domain: How Ventura County Shut Down The Pine Mountain Inn

Views:870
@ReasonVids

In the northernmost reaches of California's Ventura County, a two-lane rural road called Highway 33 runs into the rugged and mostly undeveloped Transverse Mountain Range. Though it's mostly raw wilderness, a few businesses catering to adventurous explorers have long existed there, some for more than a century.

But now the local government is shutting those businesses down, one by one, using arcane zoning and building-code laws to get the job done.

"If there isn't someone complaining, and there isn't really a serious public health and safety issue, why do they spend so much of their time pursuing these kinds of cases?" asks Lynne Jensen, executive director of the Ventura County Coalition of Labor and Business (COLAB).

Tom Wolf owns the Pine Mountain Inn, a restaurant that's been serving biker groups and local community organizations since the 1930s. Wolf temporarily had to shut the doors when he suffered a heart attack in 2002, and he was never able to reopen when the county informed him that his property had been rezoned as an "Open Space" back in the 1980s without his knowledge.

"The county wanted everybody out of here," says Wolf. "And they wanted a complete open space with nothing but deer and frogs... and no people."

No matter how hard Wolf tried to comply with the ever-changing codes, the county just wouldn't relent, at one time even ordering him to remove a chicken coop that had never actually existed on the property.

Wolf isn't alone, says Jensen. Several other small businesses along Highway 33 have been hit by multiple county agencies for no apparent reason.

"They had every department hit us with violations to make sure that they shut us down," says April Hope, who, along with her husband Bob, owns a bed and breakfast called The Wheel, which has existed in the area since the 1890s.

Since the Hopes purchased The Wheel in early 2000, they've never been able to open it to the public. While officials from the county supervisor's office and the planning department refused to speak with ReasonTV for this story, Jensen says that the county is using code enforcement to drive these businesses off the land without compensation.

"This rezoning is really a way to get around eminent domain, because eminent domain means you give up your entire property. And here, you only give up part of your rights," says Jensen.

Invoking eminent domain to seize private property would not only require the county to compensate landowners, but also to demonstrate that the taking served a "public use."

"They have been very successful in taking people's property in a number of different ways without compensation as long as they don't take ownership of it," says Jensen.

About 5.30 minutes.

Written and Produced by Zach Weissmueller. Camera by Alex Manning, Tracy Oppenheimer, and Weissmueller.

Go to http://www.reason.tv for downloadable versions and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube Channel to receive automatic notifications when new material goes live.

eminent domain
,
ventura county
,
pine mountain inn
,
libertarian
,
reason.com
,
reason.org
,
reason.tv
,
valley
,
california
,
reason foundation
,
land use
,
big government
,
private property
,
property rights
,
zoning
,
environmentalism
,
open space
,
new urbanism
,
rural living
,
survivalism
,
off the grid
    Thumbnail for Jonah Goldberg on The Tyranny of Cliches, Creating NRO, and the Firing of John Derbyshire30:24
    Jonah Goldberg on The Tyranny of Cliches, Creating NRO, and the Firing of John Derbyshire
    ReasonVids
    922 views
    Thumbnail for Buscando el META DEFINITIVO en WARZONE 6 - Kesto2:06:13
    Buscando el META DEFINITIVO en WARZONE 6 - Kesto
    invidious
    110 views
    Thumbnail for Why Does Elphaba Fly WEST in WICKED?... #shorts | AniBox Facts0:59
    Why Does Elphaba Fly WEST in WICKED?... #shorts | AniBox Facts
    invidious
    137 views
    Thumbnail for love chiefs instinct here | YourFriendly NeighborhoodPsycho0:15
    love chiefs instinct here | YourFriendly NeighborhoodPsycho
    invidious
    443 views
    Thumbnail for फंस गया का रिजल्ट- किसकी बनेगी सरकार ? Lok Sabha Election Results LIVE |Rahul Gandhi | NDA vs INDIA11:54:57
    फंस गया का रिजल्ट- किसकी बनेगी सरकार ? Lok Sabha Election Results LIVE |Rahul Gandhi | NDA vs INDIA
    invidious
    283 views
    Thumbnail for Montana’s Yoga Pants Ban is a Joke (or is it?) Nanny of the Month (Feb ‘15)1:44
    Montana’s Yoga Pants Ban is a Joke (or is it?) Nanny of the Month (Feb ‘15)
    ReasonVids
    970 views
    Thumbnail for VA Recap: U.S. Vet on Cause, Solution, and Scale of Scandal6:43
    VA Recap: U.S. Vet on Cause, Solution, and Scale of Scandal
    ReasonVids
    910 views
    Thumbnail for 【お金の授業p282-やってはいけないNG副業5選】あなたにオススメの副業診断【1月27日 8時30分まで】 | 両学長 リベラルアーツ大学2:02:47
    【お金の授業p282-やってはいけないNG副業5選】あなたにオススメの副業診断【1月27日 8時30分まで】 | 両学長 リベラルアーツ大学
    invidious
    104 views
    Thumbnail for Why Hate Speech Laws Backfire3:15
    Why Hate Speech Laws Backfire
    ReasonVids
    1085 views
    Thumbnail for Feds Sentence Aaron Sandusky to 10 Years for Medical Marijuana3:53
    Feds Sentence Aaron Sandusky to 10 Years for Medical Marijuana
    ReasonVids
    893 views
    Thumbnail for Spain: anti socialized protest0:23
    Spain: anti socialized protest
    bestofupgoat
    472 views
    Thumbnail for Van Halen - Panama (Official Music Video) | Van Halen3:43
    Van Halen - Panama (Official Music Video) | Van Halen
    invidious
    148 views
    Thumbnail for Corey Hart - Sunglasses At Night (Official Music Video)1:00
    Corey Hart - Sunglasses At Night (Official Music Video)
    bestofupgoat
    283 views
    Thumbnail for Hamas going door to door to terminate israelis in their homes.1:40
    Hamas going door to door to terminate israelis in their homes.
    bestofupgoat
    486 views
    Thumbnail for We warned them and they did not listen. We are at war. They won't wake up.5:35
    We warned them and they did not listen. We are at war. They won't wake up.
    AOUisgay
    530 views
    Thumbnail for Libertarian Party Candidate Gary Johnson on Voting Libertarian For One Election5:38
    Libertarian Party Candidate Gary Johnson on Voting Libertarian For One Election
    ReasonVids
    862 views
    Thumbnail for The Hard-Won Beauty of Entrepreneurship3:54
    The Hard-Won Beauty of Entrepreneurship
    ReasonVids
    858 views
    Thumbnail for Lanny Friedlander: The Eccentric Genius Who Created Reason Magazine8:31
    Lanny Friedlander: The Eccentric Genius Who Created Reason Magazine
    ReasonVids
    916 views
    Thumbnail for Comedy 20 years ago1:29
    Comedy 20 years ago
    bestofvoatxyz
    501 views
    Thumbnail for Nordstream Sabotage: Our Lips Are Sealed | Live From The Lair21:20
    Nordstream Sabotage: Our Lips Are Sealed | Live From The Lair
    Terrence Popp
    619 views
    Thumbnail for Climate change in Ireland reaches crisis levels as yet another migrant centre succumbs to spontaneous combustion 0:09
    Climate change in Ireland reaches crisis levels as yet another migrant centre succumbs to spontaneous combustion
    bestofupgoat
    215 views
    Thumbnail for Getting a massive team together0:27
    Getting a massive team together
    AOUisgay
    508 views
    Thumbnail for Isaiah Thomas checks in for the first time this season! ☀️ | #Shorts | NBA0:14
    Isaiah Thomas checks in for the first time this season! ☀️ | #Shorts | NBA
    invidious
    339 views
    Thumbnail for Why Is She Wearing So Many Shirts? | Vat190:32
    Why Is She Wearing So Many Shirts? | Vat19
    invidious
    82 views
    Thumbnail for Hail Satan? A New Documentary Depicts Devil Worshipers as Unlikely Defenders of the First Amendment16:41
    Hail Satan? A New Documentary Depicts Devil Worshipers as Unlikely Defenders of the First Amendment
    ReasonVids
    848 views

points

Permalink
Reply
eminent domain
,
ventura county
,
pine mountain inn
,
libertarian
,
reason.com
,
reason.org
,
reason.tv
,
valley
,
california
,
reason foundation
,
land use
,
big government
,
private property
,
property rights
,
zoning
,
environmentalism
,
open space
,
new urbanism
,
rural living
,
survivalism
,
off the grid
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle