A new report spearheaded by the Private Property Rights Institute (PPRI) has profiled different farmers in the battleground states of Michigan and Pennsylvania, highlighting the stories of how zoning boards have prevented them from properly utilizing their land to stay afloat.
In an age of Biden-driven inflation, domination of the farming industry by ruthless Big Ag and a myriad of other economic challenges, these farmers have also had to deal with the mandates of zoning boards restricting their ability to develop their land as they see fit.
Bob Wackernagel, a third-generation farmer in Michigan, has watched community-based farming slowly die off in Michigan. At the age of 60, he reports being the youngest farmer in his area. To make ends meet and preserve his family’s way of life, Wackernagel leased approximately 100 acres for solar development upon the most arid portion of his farmland. As a result, he has received attacks from township officials.
“I use the ground that returns me the least investment back on my crops … I’ve replanted two or three times a season on that land, because of poor soil quality… They act like it’s their land … They don’t have to pay the property taxes; they don’t have to farm it,” Wackernagel said.
Dwight Ely, a seventh-generation farmer from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, can trace his roots on his family’s land back to the 1800s. He raises livestock and operates a meat-processing business with massive and growing energy costs. Ely invested in solar panels years ago to help bring down his energy bill to manageable levels.
“Sure, it helped this generation for sure … big savings… absolutely, it helped to continue the generational thing for sure,” he said. “We pay that thing off, and it’s been nothing but awesome … It’s just been a gift that keeps giving,” Ely said.
Ely worked with neighbors to add fencing, plant trees and make sure his solar panels did not cause blight within his rural area. However, his hopes to expand his solar fleet as part of a business expansion plan that would have provided value to the community were stymied by the local zoning board.
“Some little guy sitting up at a little office at the township building says… he wants to make it hard. That’s the ridiculous part,” he said.
Two local officials in Pennsylvania and Michigan – Leoni Township Supervisor Howard Linnabary and Bradford County Commissioner Doug McLinko – believe that misinformation and a poor understanding of property rights are causing barriers that result in bureaucratic pushback against solar panels.
Supervisor Linnabary, who in his professional career oversaw gas, wind and solar projects while working at a utility company, has passed a common sense ordinance requiring solar projects to pass reasonable standards that allay potential concerns from the community, saying: “I’m all for it, if it’s presented the right way. If you’re truthful, if you’re thorough, I’ll help you get it done.”
Commissioner McLinko, on the other hand, is not a proponent of solar on a personal level but believes strongly in property rights. He feels that opposition to solar projects is based on confusion and a lack of transparency about projects from developers. McLinko said: “There are so many families that are struggling right now … if they got an opportunity to make money on their property, God bless them.”
The PPRI is fighting for the right for rural landowners to choose as the organization’s Executive Director Charlie Kolean explained during a recent Zoom call explaining the group’s work.
“We’re talking about everything, from housing to broadband to energy projects to transmission lines and even chicken coups, but the point remains the same: Landowners should be free to decide how best to use their property without unnecessary interference from local zoning czars or State Capitols,” Kolean said.
Kolean points to Michigan and Pennsylvania as two of the states where landowners “have faced some of the most egregious government overreach in the country.”
“Landowners want the freedom to make their own choices. These aren’t abstract debates. These are real people facing red tape that drives away investment, divides neighbors and weakens property rights. Our launch of this effort…is the opening salvo of what we believe will be the most aggressive defense of property rights in decades,” Kolean said.
Much is spoken of the federal swamp in Washington D.C., but there are swamps in State Capitols and at the local levels throughout the country that are just as dedicated to bullying free Americans as their federal counterparts. It is past time for an organized effort to stand for the rights of the beleaguered local landowner.
The post Local Tyrants: How Property Rights of Farmers in Battleground States are Victimized by Zoning Boards appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.