Since 1923, Maryland has been known as the Free State. However, state officials might consider dropping the label, as abusive regulations have become the order of the day.
Times are especially trying for Marylanders who either live or own land within designated “critical area” zones ? untouchable grounds in close proximity to waterways including the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.
Maryland legislators recently toughened critical-area laws, increasing the current building setback from 100 to 200 feet (the original bill called for a 300-foot boundary), meaning that no land development is to take place within 200 feet of the water.
What some people may not realize is that a 200-foot buffer isn?t merely “200 feet” ? it?s a 200-linear-foot setback from the high water mark spanning the length of one?s property. So if you happen to own a 100-foot stretch of waterfront, the government prohibits you from touching 20,000 square feet of your land, or almost a half-acre.
According to The Baltimore Sun, Maryland Sen. J. Lowell Stoltzfus, R-District 38, warned that this new legislation would immediately decrease property values, while Sen. Brian E. Frosh, D-District 16, said it would send them ever higher, arguing, “It?s not a question of whether you can build a house on your property, it?s a question of where you can build a house.”
Sen. Frosh apparently believes property owners across the state sit on boundless expanses of land. How many Marylanders, especially those lucky enough to have found affordable waterfront property, own even a half-acre of land?
If you?ve purchased, say, a half-acre lot and you get wrapped up in these new regulations before you?ve secured building permits, your property will effectively be rendered worthless as a result of this new bill. In this scenario, Mr. Stoltzfus?s admonition is deadly accurate.
On the other hand, if you already live in a house on the water, your land?s value will likely skyrocket due to the now-artificially limited availability of houses resting 100 feet from the shoreline. (Resellers, call your agents!) Another consequence of the legislation is that undeveloped waterfront lots must contain more acreage in order to be viable for house construction.
Environmental platitudes aside, what no one seems to be talking about here is that government regulations are not necessary to prevent the pollution of Maryland?s waters, nor are these mandates apt to meaningfully improve water quality anyhow.
Whether government-imposed setbacks are 100, 200, 300 or 1000 feet, one need not be a scientist to realize rainwater will still run into the Bay, rivers and creeks; boaters will still gas up their engines during summer weekends; and power plants and factories may still dump waste into the water.
Moreover, regardless of coercive government restrictions, anyone suspected of directly violating the property rights of others through environmental pollution can still be sued or prosecuted, respectively, for civil or criminal negligence.
Instead, these land-grabbing, pre-emptive regulations amount to nothing more than government theft of private property, and punish everyone collectively by reducing the enjoyment owners get from using their land, putting waterfront prices out of reach or even rendering some properties unbuildable for the unluckiest victims of this elitist legislation. Indeed, the ultimate goal here is to discourage waterfront development entirely.
Ironically, most Maryland politicians believe they can protect the environment by violating property rights; but it?s their genuine disrespect for these rights that prevents them from realizing that protecting private property itself is the best solution to environmental abuses in the first place.
Trevor Bothwell is a freelance writer living in Solomons, Md.
