Zoning is not the inevitable result of progress -- its an experiment in centralized control that has failed, often with devastating consequences and the consequences are adding up daily here on Grand Island.

Recently, Don Fraser resigned from the Zoning Board of Appeals and I can’t blame him for doing so. Month after month, this board hears the same requests over and over, and each request cost the applicant (homeowner) a $100 fee (tax) and causing delays in a project that could be easily resolved by some small changes in the zoning laws. For example, the front yard setback on Love Road is inside most garages, so the front half of most of the houses are iii violation of zoning. If you as a homeowner want to replace your broken concrete steps with a small deck and set of stairs, the same size as what is there, you need permission to do so, plus pay $100 and wait up to six or eight weeks till the next Zoning Board of Appeals meeting. Most requests are approved at the ZBA meetings but the costs and delays can end a project before it starts.

The fault can’t be laid at the feet of the Zoning Board of Appeals, they didn’t make the laws, but they do have to make their decisions based upon the law. The fault clearly needs to be aimed at our past and present elected officials and their failure to correct these antiquated zoning laws.

A simple remedy would be to abide by the zoning laws that were in place when a neighborhood was built -- a grandfather clause for existing homes. It sounds simple but as politics go nothing is easy and everyone has an opinion. So while we wait for the study of the zoning to get done, more people get aggravated and projects get put on bold.

Sometimes I wonder: Are they Civil Servants or Bounty hunters?

Don Fraser’s comments summed it up perfectly: “The zoning requirements remain at the expense and inconvenience to the public and a detriment to the town it self,” and “Planning has no beneficial effect on our zoning problems.” Thank you, Don, for your years of service to the town. Your expertise will be missed.