Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Bell bill: Something there is that does not love a fence: Correction height rule
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock on Tue, Mar 12, 2013 at 6:20 AM
The Arkansas Court of Appeals ruled last October that the Capitol Zoning District Commission correctly enforced a rule that prohibits front yard fences from being higher than 40 inches. In so doing, the court reversed a Pulaski Circuit Court ruling in favor of a home owner at 1404 Scott St. who built a 48-inch fence and then filed a judicial appeal against the Commission when it voted that the fence violated the district's 40-inch limit. In February, the state Supreme Court declined to review the case.
Now comes HB2078, by Rep. Nate Bell, R-Mena, to require the zoning district to raise its fence limit to — guess what — 48 inches.
Judge Wendell Griffin in 2011 found the zoning district had acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it denied Patrick Cowan the right to build his fence at 48 inches. The Court of Appeals disagreed, saying the district had acted rationally and in accordance with its rules.
Cowan is running unopposed for president of the Little Rock Downtown Neighborhood Association, and so will have a seat on the Capital Zoning District Commission. (CZDC folks corrected me this a.m. on this.) He responded to a LRDNA message board post and rumors that he wanted to eliminate the Commission:
Firstly, I do not want to eliminate CZDC. I think CZDC has an important role to play in our community, but think that reform of CZDC ordinances and guidelines is needed. However, under the new bylaws, presuming they pass on Thursday, my vote as a member will be but one of many. My role as President, as set forth in those new bylaws, would be to carry out the will of the membership regardless of what my personal views may be on the topic. In fact, as an attorney I have been placed in just such a situation many times before. In these situations my duty is to my client, just as my duty as President would be to carry out the will of the membership.
But back to the main question: Why is a Mena legislator interfering in Quapaw Quarter business?
UPDATE:
Sharon Welch Blair has announced she will run against Cowan for LRDNA president, I am informed.
Speaking of...
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The terrible 10 of the 89th Arkansas General Assembly
May 9, 2013They're the worst of the worst. /more/
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May 9, 2013Some legislators and legislation shone. /more/
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May 7, 2013Kind of a nicely written narrative from Rep. Nate Bell of Mena on what he says was a formative episode of his youth, when, he says, a 30-30 rifle gave him the backing he needed to scare a would-be intruder away from his Alabama home. /more/
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May 2, 2013I am a resident of Massachusetts and the aunt of Lauren Rousseau. You might recognize her name; her body was blown apart by some of the 154 shots of the Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle that Adam Lanza used in his massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. There were 20 innocent children and 5 other adults also murdered that day. /more/
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Room in the middle for Arkansas politicians?
April 25, 2013Recent events recommend former U.S. Rep. Mike Ross' plan to emulate Gov. Mike Beebe as a middle-of-the-road Democrat. Moderation is appealing. /more/
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Dumb Bell, etc.
April 25, 2013Arkansans put feet in mouth, then fire. /more/
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Open letters to Nate Bell
April 25, 2013I read your comments about Boston yesterday. YOU ARE A MORON. I'm a gun owning conservative. That did not spare me when the bombs went off in Copley Square. I wasn't home cowering when I read your comments. I was in a hospital bed at Mass General. /more/
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Lyons: Nate Bell doesn't know Boston
April 25, 2013For what it's worth, almost everybody in Arkansas who can find Massachusetts on a road map was appalled by state Rep. Nate Bell's grotesquely inappropriate Twitter post. /more/
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Better thing
April 25, 2013One can easily sympathize with the members of the state House of Representatives who'd like to eject Nate Bell from the chamber. /more/
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How high the fence? Hearing set
April 24, 2013Remember the fight over fence heights in the Governor's Mansion and Capitol neighborhoods, a dispute that produced unsuccessful legislation to abolish the Capitol Zoning District Commission. /more/
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