Kansas House votes for property rights

state-historic-preservation-environsToday the Kansas House of Representatives passed a bill that will protect property owners from harm simply because their property is near a historic property.

The bill is HB 2118, as described by its supplemental note:

HB 2118 would delete provisions related to environs restrictions from historic property reviews.

Under current law, proposed projects within 500 feet of the boundaries of a historic property located in a city or within 1,000 feet of the boundaries of a historic property located in the unincorporated portion of a county are subject to historic design and appearance restrictions.

The bill would limit historic reviews conducted under the act to proposed projects that would directly involve, damage, or destroy a property included in the National Register of Historic Places or the State Register of Historic Places.

The bill passed today by a vote of 99 to 24. Those voting against this bill — those who wish to keep the current restrictions on private property rights — were Alcala, Ballard, Becker, Bridges, Burroughs, Carlin, Crum, Davis, Dillmore, Grant, Henderson, Henry, Hill, Kuether, Lane, Meier, Pauls, Ruiz, Sloop, Tietze, Weigel, Whipple, Wilson, and Winn.

Comments

2 responses to “Kansas House votes for property rights”

  1. Westie

    Cities already control zoning outside their city limits in the so called, “areas of influence,” within a couple of miles of the city boundaries. This way the cities can control “growth,” but in the process use zoning to limit what citizens living outside the city may or may not do. This is an attack on property rights by local government.

    Historic buildings are usually located downtown. Rules like this make it more challenging to remodel or re-build and lead to more demands for special breaks downtown too.

  2. Queen of Hearts

    Wow. Two times in one day. Agree with you on this issue as well. Hate the environs.

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