AAW 2009 LAND USE REPORT
 

In July of this year, two of the nation’s preeminent property rights organizations merged
to become “American Stewards of Liberty.” The new association combines the
memberships of Stewards of the Range and American Land Foundation, creating a
powerful force of property rights and liberty in America.

The Clean Water Restoration Act, passed out of the Senate Environment Committee, may
be the most dangerous land use control bill Americans have had to face. S787 increases
federal regulatory power broader than it has ever been and far beyond where it was ever
intended by the drafters of the Constitution.

Over 300 Colorado Landowners in Colorado signed Conservation Easements, doing
everything by the book, guided by Land Trusts and attorneys alike. Now they face IRS
back taxes and penalties and the real threat of losing their land.
While the result of zoning is to regulate, restrict and prohibit land use, thus diminishing
the private property rights of owners, Smart Growth is taking zoning to a new level,
violating the substantive due process rights of the landowner.
 

Denver, Colorado will be the site for the annual property rights convention, Call America
2009 – Coordinating America’s Local Leaders. This will be the fourth year the
conference focuses on training local leaders how to use the coordination process to
protect the local economy and property rights. The conference takes place Nov. 5-7.
The first leg of the NAFTA Superhighway, Trans-Texas Corridor, is at a standstill after
the transportation department failed to win any new legislative proposals in the 2009
Texas Legislature, including failing to find a way around coordination with the 391 local
government Commissions. The Eastern Central Texas Commission has petitioned the
Federal Highway Administration to reject the environmental study on the quarter-of-amile
superhighway corridors.
Landowners and local governments across the nation are beginning to recognize what a
key role the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) can play in protecting
productive use, the local economy and the safety and welfare of the citizens, primarily
through the coordination process. Every federal agency must comply with this law
whenever they take any major federal action giving America’s landowners, who
recognize the intent of the Act, an opportunity to once again find protection.

Respectfully submitted
Eleanor Zimmerlein, Land Use Chair