Anyone who knows me, knows I am a fan of public involvement in our governmental process. I am also a firm believer that all politics is local. That is one of the reasons I am a fan of Trish Beck’s (D-Sandy-District 48) HB 222 – Land use meeting notice.
The bill itself basically cleans up a bit of a loophole in our current state law that formerly allowed people who intend to change the usage of a property (say from building a monster home to changing the zoning from residential to commercial) to make a public notice no less than 10 days in a newspaper or 3 days through standard mail.
This bill reflects that all to sad fact that you people are online reading blogs and not newspapers anymore, furthermore, it reflects the fact that mailing is a very good way to ensure that people are taken by surprise and don’t have the time to raise any objections they may have to you building a 400 watchtower with floodlights in your backyard.
Is this a sexy bill? Not by any stretch of the imagination. But it is one of those bills that prove that your legislators really do try to work for you, not just in their own interests.
And that really is the point of HB 222. You need to talk to your legislators and tell them what you think. You need to let them know that something isn’t right in your community and that it needs fixing…basically, every time you ever think to yourself “there aught to be a law” keep in mind that there are people in your neighborhood who could actually follow up on it.
