Final Vote June 1st
An amendment to Section 9-132 of the Greenville County Code of Ordinances impacting certain property owners, passed second reading and will receive a final vote during the next Council meeting on the first Tuesday in June.
The change is worded as follows and will have the force of law immediately upon passage:
“In the R-7.5, R-10, R-12, R-15, and R-20 districts, it shall be unlawful for the owner of a privately-owned, unimproved lot in a natural or overgrowth state to permit vines, briars, weeds, or any plant (excluding a tree) that is not cultivated to grow over a height of eighteen (18) inches within ten (10) feet of a residential property line. This provision shall not be enforced unless the Greenville County Codes Department receives a written complaint by the owner or occupant of the residential property indicating that he objects to the natural growth within 10 feet of his property.”
It is already unlawful for the owner of any occupied or unoccupied lot or parcel of land in or within 200 feet of a developed platted subdivision or developed zoned residential area in Greenville County “to permit on said lot or parcel of land any growth of weeds or rank vegetation except for natural or agricultural uses. This distance shall be measured from the site of the offending vegetation or infestation to the dwelling structure of another.”
It is also already unlawful for the owner of any occupied or unoccupied lot or parcel of land in or within 200 feet of a platted subdivision or zoned residential area within Greenville County to permit vermin infestation to such an extent so as to create a nuisance or potential health problem for adjoining lots or parcels.”
Authority to dictate what landowners can do with their own property is contained in the implementation of UN Agenda 21 by states and local governments. The federal government awarded more than $4 million in grants to the American Planning Association to develop model comprehensive planning legislation for states.
They produced a book titled Growing Smart: Legislative Guidebook. This book contains three model laws and two model executive orders from which states may choose. The book translated recommendations presented in U. N. Conferences in 1976 and 1992 and President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development into state laws such as the one that requires counties in South Carolina to prepare comprehensive plans.
“The common theme in all the model legislation and the model executive orders is government control of land use with no regard for private property rights,” according to Henry Lamb, founder and executive vice president of Freedom 21, Inc., an organization striving for freedom, free markets and property rights.
“The concept of sustainable development, and in particular, the principle of government control of land use completely ignores the 4th Amendment and the principle of private property rights, a fundamental principle of freedom,” Lamb writes.
