We live in an area of Topanga already restricted to one house per 10 acres. We welcome visiting horse traffic on our private roads. It’s infuriating when a homeowner in Calabasas argues that because she rides horses here we should therefore be restricted from building our homes on our own property so as not to be in her way. Calabasas which, because of its city hood, is exempt from this proposed ordinance (North Area Grading and Ridgeline Ordinance), is constructing yet another mega development blanketing their ridgeline with 600 homes. As they are losing so much of their own open land to gated concrete communities, whose property value are we talking about here? Calabasas land values stand to gain if neighboring Topanga can be transformed for their purpose, into their backyard trails.
The property affected by this proposed ordinance is private property and it’s being debated by the public as if it is theirs to debate. We would no sooner allow the public to look at private bank accounts and decide that the money in them would be better used for their ideologies than we would allow a bill to reinstate slavery. Maybe we should ask the public in other states what they want to do with our land, or hey, let’s ask the French. The Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause reads: “nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.” As presently interpreted by the court, that clause enables owners to receive compensation (1); (2); (3) when regulation for other than health or safety reasons takes all or nearly all of the value of the property; and (4) when government attaches unreasonable or disproportionate permit conditions on use.
This is a proposal to take the use that goes with the property, the very use that gives property its value, the taking of which diminishes that value-leaving the owner with the empty shell of ownership-and which is not offering the compensation required. When a thief takes 75 percent of his victim’s property, no one has difficulty calling that a robbery. The Proposed North Area Grading and Ridgeline Ordinance is doing the same thing.
Stacey Evans