Have you ever stopped to think what would have happened if the basketball world didn’t come to an agreement that the rim has to be exactly 10 feet above the floor? A coach lucky enough to start giants might set the basket at 12 feet, knowing their opponents would struggle to grab rebounds.
There’s a reason every form of sports – even 43-man Squamish – has a rulebook and officials to enforce it. I mean, look how many heated arguments we witness although individual sports already have established rules and officials. Can you imagine the chaos if every team just did whatever they wanted?
What’s politely known as code enforcement is frequently a source of anger and anguish for property owners. “Whaddya mean I can’t put my fence there because it would be too close to the property line? That’s the whole purpose!” “I don’t want my she-shed hidden where it won’t make everyone jealous!” “Look – I’m an American, and goldarnit, if I want a wind turbine in my front yard, I’m going to put one there!”
Most local building codes and similar laws have been enacted for safety. Specifically, your safety. Nearly all the rest were also adopted to protect you, or more directly, protect the value of your property. In other words, all those stupid and annoying rules and regulations exist for you. The town and county employees who oversee those rules aren’t being sticklers to annoy or frustrate you. They’re doing their best to be fair to you and every other property owner in your area by not letting anyone break the rules.
As a school board member, I had many requests from parents to “just make an exception for my child” when rules weren’t convenient or meant their student would miss out on something. “Nobody will ever know.” (Well, yes they will. Teenagers love to brag.) But I never agreed to any of those exceptions, and not because of a fear of gossipy teens. It was because making an exception for one person ethically obligates you to make exceptions for others who believe their situation is equally worthy. Every exception creates a precedent future remonstrators will point to as they demand you grant their exception, too.
Like athletic rulebooks, if towns and the county didn’t enforce those rules, property owners would be able to do whatever they wanted with zero consideration as to how it might affect neighbors like you. And yes, it might seem silly to reject a shed that’s 9 feet from the next yard but allow one that’s just one more foot away, but our communities have to draw a line somewhere. If the official said, “Oh, sure, 9 feet is far enough,” they’ll soon find themselves saying, “Oh sure, 8 feet is far enough.”
I know people like to say they really don’t own their property because they’re forced to pay property taxes and follow all those stupid rules. The taxes you’re paying and those rules you’re following exist to protect the value of your property. If your next-door neighbor suddenly started raising hogs and testing racing engines in the wee hours, how much would your home be worth to a buyer?
Sometimes, the local officials and their lawyers who draft those rules simply come up with a standard that just makes sense. You might think a 5-foot setback is too much, I might think it’s too lenient, but they had to pick a number and stick to it. More often, the rules they adopt are based upon what elected officials and staff members have learned from healthy communities elsewhere.
If a rule about property really ticks you off, yelling at officials is counterproductive and makes them think you’re probably an unreasonable idiot. What you want to do is reach out and talk to them. Find out who oversees those rules in your community and ask them why a rule was written that way. There’s usually a reason. Sometimes even a fascinating story. And if you don’t think what you learn justifies the rule, ask the official how you can go about getting it changed. (You’d be surprised how often citizen comments trigger changes.)