NIMBYs - ADDING COLLATERAL DAMAGE TO THE ECONOMY

NIMBY reactionaries don't stop change in the long run. They simply help to insure that it happens in the worst possible way. - David Brain

In the northwest corner of Washington state a series of recent land development hearings has taken place aimed at preventing a small construction company from developing several residential lots it owns. A hearing commissioner presided over the courtroom during the past several months, and will make a crucial decision after all evidence is presented and final arguments are made. Tens of thousands of dollars have been and will continue to be spent before the curtain finally comes down.

At stake is the future of a small business, the kind that any community would be proud of, and the lives of people associated with it. It’s an example of a monumental flaw in modern day America. Laws are being made as we speak which allow well-intentioned people to cause untold financial and emotional pain to their fellow citizens. As they find legal ways to impose their will on how life should be in America, the end justifies the means.

It’s a story of mistaken beliefs, misrepresentation, bureaucracy, and self centered motives , cloaked in concern for the environment. Filled with righteous indignation the individuals use delaying tactics, petitions, appeals, “expert opinions” and any other means they can to stop development they deem harmful to the ecology. They do not appear to recognize the cost to the hopes and dreams of others. Ironically, many of those lodging appeals live on what might be called environmentally fragile property. No matter. They bought their property long ago. That was then, this is now. They exemplify the word NIMBY!

Here is what on-line dictionaries say about the word. NIMBY is an acronym for the phrase not in my back yard. The term (or the derivative Nimbyism) is used negatively to describe opposition by residents to a proposal for a new development close to them.

So, you might say, someone needs to take a stand for the environment. We can’t have high rolling developers and industries come in to strip our land of trees, poison our streams, or destroy the flora and fauna of our wooded areas. This is true, but reason needs to be part of the equation.

At stake in this scenario are wetlands. Three 20,000 square foot lots have some wetland areas on them that house certain animal and plant life considered important. Endless testimony was heard about mature forested lands, sizes of trees on the property, 50 ‘ , 75’ or 100’ buffers, set backs, etc. How extra people and pets would potentially harm the area was brought up. I sat through three different days of testimony. By the final day I felt exasperated and frustrated by the endless questions, conjectures, and "expert testimony."

This small company went through another such ordeal three years ago, when attempts to develop a different one acre lot were thwarted by neighbors who were against any development in their neighborhood woods. Their children had used the woods for camp outs, playing in a small year-round stream, and making tree forts. They did not want a house on that lot! In short, they banded together and got the city to designate it a native growth protection area which came with all sorts of restrictions and demands; i.e. removal of any non-native plants, putting in and maintaining a trail system, adding benches, and much more. It didn’t matter that the surrounding homeowners had not had to do likewise. You can well imagine the cost and the time consumed as the builder attempted to meet these newly imposed requirements.

A beautiful house in keeping with the woodsy setting was finally built on a very small footprint at the edge of the property. From the deck one could imagine hearing the song “I heard a forest praying” . It was a battle fought, and won only to the degree that a beautiful home was built. But the cost of that battle was great. There was no profit for the builder, just another nail in a small business coffin.

As an aside, there are other examples of nimbyism going on in the area. People moving from town to the country don’t like the smell of manure from nearby farms. Its stink is bad for the value of their homes. Not in my backyard! They wouldn't want a hog farm to be built upwind, because of the stench. Not in my backyard!

As long as there is a market for homes there will be builders building them. It’s the American way. Change is inevitable and sometimes painful. A beautiful dogwood or towering pine may need to be sacrificed so that someone’s dream home can be built.

After we bought one of two homes built on a small Mercer Island development, we found that they were on the site of a former orchard -the delight of the neighborhood. Nearby homeowners must surely have been angry at the builder for destroying something that brought so much pleasure to so many people. But the houses were lovely, the neighbors became friends, and life goes on.

Native Americans, as the first people, were not NIMBYs, but rather caretakers of the land, expecting us to be as caring as they were. There were no building laws and restrictions. We have shown ourselves to be careless of our legacy, and we can do better. But the stranglehold, now wielded by folks with new laws behind them, is choking small business and taking away the chance for some people to have homes in beautiful wooded settings with water features on the property. Yes, there needs to be some restrictions, but perhaps they should be saved for the big developer who needs a cautionary hand. Perhaps also, NIMBYs should examine their motives to determine if it’s the environment they’re concerned about, or, rather, the loss of their own private greenbelt.

Let’s hope that restrictions don’t go as far as one listed in Kaid Benfield’s recent blog when describing environmentalists and proposed land development:

BANANA . . .Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything.

Funny? Maybe to some of us, but probably not to the small builders who are struggling to make a life and add their part to the economy. I think NIMBYs and BANANAs need to take a look at themselves and follow the Golden Rule for a better, more productive world