Latest Victims of Maryland's Fascist Bureaucrats

A St. Mary's County zoning appeals board told Hollywood residents Roy and Jane Hart that they cannot complete construction on a home they have been remodeling since 1986.

The zoning appeals board ruled that the building permit did expire, that there was never a vested right to continue its construction and turned down an application for after-the-fact approval.

The house cannot be finished where it is now, but it could be physically relocated farther away from the water.

The decision can be appealed to circuit court.

The unfinished house is in within 100 feet of the shoreline. Chesapeake Bay Critical Area regulations prohibit structures in the buffer, but the foundation of the house was poured before the regulations were adopted locally in 1990.

The house can be "physically relocated?" The "decision can be appealed" to a higher court? At what cost to these homeowners? Certainly the fascist bureaucrats who have no vested personal interest or stake in the outcome of these hearings will bear any costs, whether monetary or emotional.

Anyone who thinks the building permit process exists for any reason other than to serve as a tax on construction is pathetically naive. For the most part, homeowners go along to get along and pay their fees to the state and county so they can get on with actually enjoying the property they've paid for. But when these criminals in suits who sit on planning and zoning boards start casting votes that essentially rob homeowners of their land and rights, there's no denying the fact that when push comes to shove, there really is no such thing as property rights as long as government is involved.

This is yet another example of the government punishing people for the mere potential to do harm; it's apparently too much to expect our public "servants" to resign themselves to sanctioning only those who've actually caused property damage as a result of their actions.

No doubt these county regulators believe they're serving a greater purpose as they assert unilateral force upon non-violent citizens, but they're nothing more than cowards hiding beneath Mother Nature's skirt as they bully the rest of us under the guise of protecting the environment.