BY WHAT AUTHORITY?
I just returned from an Augusta County Board of Zoning hearing where I spoke on behalf of a friend. My righteous indignation is boiling.
This friend's elderly parents, in their 80s, are becoming needful of care so he and his wife sold their home in another city and put that equity into a monstrous RV, moved it next to his parents' house a couple of years ago, and have been providing elder care since.
Every parent in the world would covet this kind of filial honor from a child in later life. The RV is not visible from the public road; it's adorned with flower beds and is in every way attractive and ordered. But someone complained.
And beginning last fall, this couple, the parents, and the county zoning department have been in a conflict. It turns out, in or county you can't live in an RV as your domicile. You can park it. You can park 40 of them on your property; you just can't live in one.
Many people in our county live in RVs, but as long as a busybody neighbor doesn't complain, the county powers that be leave them alone. They only enforce the regulation if there's a complaint. To watch these appeals board members condescend and pontificate to this couple was obscene. "You have enough land there to build a house."
But why? If I'm happy to live debt-free in an RV, by what authority can anyone tell me to build a house? My friend does not want to live there after his parents pass; they'll sell the place and move back to where they've been living. To saddle them with debt and complicate a land sale is unreasonable. The kind and charitable care this son and wife are providing for their elderly parents exemplifies care and familial responsibility. But the board is willing to send the sheriff with guns to evict them because of the technical violation.
The couple presented 17 letters of support from neighbors. "There's nothing we can do because the law is the law," said the county attorney and the appeals board. It is unconscionable that our county would turn this couple out on the street, after they've put all their life equity into a plan to keep the parents out of an institution.
The Biblical reason for government is clear: a terror to evil and an encourager of righteousness. In this case, our local government is a terror to righteousness and an encourager of evil. This is the kind of jack-booted heavy-handed thuggery that makes people despise the government. And if it's a bad law, it should be changed. Or defied.
The appeals board members, who are there to mitigate situations that technically go against the county code, all expressed their sympathy for the situation, but "our hands are tied." No, they're not. They could agree to call off the zoning dogs. They could demand the elected supervisors to revise the law, or grant an exception. These appeals board members will all go home this evening and enjoy dinner while this couple returns to their RV, facing eviction and a fight to care for their aging parents.
After the "NO" decision came down, the elderly mom stood and addressed the board, noting that she and her husband have lived in the county all their life, always paid their bills, helped neighbors in need, and never had to "grovel for anything. And now, at this stage of our life, we have to grovel."
I advised my friend to remain in their RV and dare the county to evict them. I'd be willing to practice civil disobedience to protect these folks; not sure what is right now, but we don't know how messy it'll get.
The zoning administrator said "as long as we see you trying to work with us, we'll be lenient." I asked her if that included trying to get the ordinance changed. She smirked and said "well, we'll give a few months, but certainly not a year."
By what authority?