The Rock Springs URA Has Lost Its Progressive Mind

The Rock Springs Urban Renewal Agency has officially lost its progressive mind. Its recent proposal that Rock Springs adopts an ordinance that punishes the owners of vacant buildings on private property is completely ridiculous.

Private property is a cornerstone of the American way of life. The idea that the community has some extraneous right to derive economic benefit from real estate, beyond the property taxes that are already collected, is an insult to the people who actually own the property. This is especially true in our current harsh economic environment, and the proposed fines amount to a double hit on owners who could already be facing a loss of income from the inability to find paying occupants for their property.

The URA is promoting the belief that you don’t have the right to “not” use your property. James Madison once said, “It is not a just government, nor is property secure under it, where arbitrary restrictions deny to part of its citizens that free use of their faculties.”  I argue that “not” using your own property is a protected “free use” of that property and punishing you for leaving your property vacant is a blatant violation of your private property rights. This is nothing more than a veiled attempt to usurp the right of private owners to determine for themselves the best way to manage their own private property.

Even more disturbing, this ordinance could be used as a weapon to force owners to release property into the market that they would otherwise be unwilling to sell. A property owner, who might able to afford their annual property taxes while they wait for a more favorable real estate market, might not be able to afford the additional tax burden that this ordinance would impose, and be forced to sell the property. A perfect opportunity for a URA that has shown themselves to be more than willing to buy up prime real estate and enter into competition with private business.

This should be a wake up call to property owners in Rock Springs that the URA does not have their interests at heart. Rather than focusing on their original intent, to be a tool and a resource for local businesses and to promote development in downtown Rock Springs, they have become just another bureaucracy exerting themselves over the people who really create economic development. They are permanently tying up valuable real estate, competing with the businesses that they were supposed to be supporting, and looking to expand their power and influence.

If you are a property owner in Rock Springs, I urge you to make it very clear to the URA Board of Directors that you want them to stop interfering with your private property rights. I also urge you to give the members of the Rock Springs City Council a call and let them know that you don’t want to be punished for exercising your right to the free use of your own private property. The government already has no business being in the commercial real estate business. Giving them the ability to levy punitive taxes on their competition in that market is just plain dangerous.