Rural revolt

Drew Bedwell doesn’t appear to be your typical rural revolutionary. He looks like that grandfatherly, middle-aged, Eddie Bauer-clad guy you’d see in the hardware store picking up a filter for a koi pond.

But Bedwell is mad at his local government, Nevada County, which he wants to prevent from implementing its 1995 General Plan. And Bedwell has started a citizens group, Protect Your Property Rights, to mobilize support for his ideas.

What concerns him is a proviso of the plan calling for county officials “to develop a comprehensive strategy to identify, manage and protect natural habitats, plant and animal species, diversity and open space resources in the county.”

This proviso has taken the form of a two-year project called Natural Heritage 2020, which is supported by a coalition of unlikely bedfellows—business interests, environmentalists and the County Planning Department—as a way to collect information from existing governmental databases for planning purposes.

Nevada County’s population is expected to increase nearly 50 percent in the next 20 years and could double by the year 2040. Project coordinator Kerri Timmer says, “[We need to] figure out the most important places for habitat, open space, recreation, timber and ranching so that we can know where [to put] residential, commercial and industrial development.”

Yet Bedwell sees NH2020 as a step toward “whittling away” constitutional rights. He cites the loss of “the individual’s right to own and control property” as leading to a domino effect of governmental tyranny jeopardizing “homes, personal possessions, personal safety, unrestricted travel and free speech.”

Nowhere in the goals of NH2020 does he find any mention of humans, and that troubles Bedwell.

NH2020 “will put a hex on private property owners,” he says, opening the door for bureaucrats to condemn private property for conservation easements. “To us, the Endangered Species Act is ‘The Hammer,’ “ Bedwell says. “It is used and abused on a national basis.”

Bedwell’s group fears plummeting property values if endangered species are found. “If I have to pay taxes on my property and I can’t sell it because of the Endangered Species Act, then I’ll sell it to the county,” Bedwell says, anticipating a significantly reduced price.

Bedwell claims a similar proposition in Oregon engendered a loss in property values, so he has found an unusual ally in Nevada County Treasurer-Tax Collector E. Christina Dabis.

Dabis cautions that it is fiscally dangerous to proceed with NH2020 without a financial impact report and warns that lawsuits and lower taxable value of property might be byproducts of the project.

According to Bedwell, NH2020 will have significant fallout, driving up the cost of rental units, reducing tax revenues as acreage designated as “critical habitat” is sold to the government and adding more regulations to confound landowners already dealing with complicated development guidelines. More than 100 property owners agree with Bedwell’s concerns and have signed forms refusing access to scientists and county workers.

Planners not only deny that the data will be used to harm private property owners, but they question the effectiveness of Bedwell’s defiant stand.

According to Senior County Planner Kateri Harrison, “Only a few select key surveys … which are not parcel specific” will be done in the field to “verify existing information rather than to provide new,” and no one will enter property without explicit invitation from the landowner.

Chauncey Poston, a realtor who chairs the Community Advisory Committee appointed by the Board of Supervisors to gather public input about NH2020, says that the “radical fringe property rights group” is using the Endangered Species Act as “a scare tactic.”

No one is going to condemn property or tell homeowners they can’t live in their houses, he says. Poston says county regulations currently require parcel divisions to do an inventory of plant and animal species. Having access to a comprehensive database will save developers time and money, and for this reason, it is supported by the building industry.

Making a distinction between property rights and development rights, Poston says, “There is no inalienable right to stick a subdivision on a particular parcel.” It is subject to zoning and county regulations, including environmental impact reports. Harrison adds that the “Endangered Species Act is a federal regulation in place since the 1960s and NH 2020 [won’t affect that].”

Proponents of NH2020 have been surprised by the response of what Shawn Garvey, the executive director of the South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL), calls “the small but vocal group opposing any planning efforts … arguing against the thing that’s benefiting most of the community.”

A recent public meeting took a surreal turn, according to Poston, when “a fellow started reading the Constitution to me” and another individual questioned if his property would be condemned if it were determined to be habitat for an endangered species fly.

“The whole point is gathering public input and getting information. There is nothing to oppose,” says Timmer. “Until we have draft recommendations, there is nothing to debate … and we are one year away from that.”

Poston accuses Bedwell of “grandstanding” and claims that there will be an “endless battle for everyone if this is not implemented.” He says the Sierra Business Council, a nonprofit association, is funding 67 percent of the cost of this project.

“It is a tremendous gift,” Poston said. “We should be taking the money and running and be forever thankful.”

Nowhere is money better invested than in our environmental future which, according to Poston, is linked to our economic future. SYRCL’s Sean Garvey agrees: “Good planning has made Nevada County an extremely attractive place to live and increased property values, as opposed to Placer County, where property is undervalued due to bad planning.”

If for nothing else, planners, developers and environmentalists have Drew Bedwell and Protect Your Property Rights to thank for helping them forge a working alliance heretofore unseen in this county.