The off-grid lifestyle, enjoyed by an estimated 800 people, is now being threatened as county officials have recently made moves to essentially regulate and license the lifestyle into oblivion.
Tensions boiled over during a county commissioners’ meeting in San Louis, Colorado, devolving into a shouting match between homesteaders and police. One of the major points of contention is the county’s attempt to ban camping on your own property, in an effort to force the off-grid homesteaders back onto the grid.
“We are residents who have come to live off the grid. It’s all our land.” … “These are harsh economic times. We have nowhere to go,” twenty-year resident Paul Skinner said.
“We’ve been regulated out of life,” homesteader Robin Rutan told Colorado Public Radio. “I came here because I couldn’t live by the codes [in other regions].”
The county, which requires residents to have a camping permit to live in an RV, “small house” or other camp style home, has started to simply refuse the renewal of these permits.
This is obviously a major problem for homesteaders, who often live in such accommodations while building their permanent residents.
“They started enforcing the changes before they were actually made,” resident Chloe Everhart said.
Everhart said she performed due diligence prior to buying her land, with one of the most important aspects of the plan being a 90-day camping permit. Without a 90-day permit, camping on residential plots is only allowed for 14 days per every three months.
But just as Everhart was arriving, the board of commissioners instructed the planning and zoning commission to no longer issue camping permits.
In spite of her best efforts, Everhart is now an outlaw.
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
"“Camping” On Your Own Land Is Now Illegal"
"In Costilla County, Colorado, there has been a major influx of off-grid residents to the San Luis Valley. The combination of lax zoning regulations, cheap property, and an already thriving community of self-reliant off-grid homesteaders has led to many new residents."
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21 comments:
"We’ve been regulated out of life,”
Stop voting for it, then.
"Stop voting for it, then."
That's the correct response to almost everything we bitch about in this country, on all sides.
There are two sides to this. Freedom versus you don't want a bunch of your neighbors camping out like it's skid row or something. That can ruin the enjoyment of your home and your property values. I think time limits and maybe a requirement to have the camp not visible are reasonable compromises, but I think people who are animated to push regulations generally just want you to be forced to live just like they do in every way.
There are two sides, indeed. The problem is that leftists are always crying about how we don't have enough regulations. to which I say - bullcrap.
That is their property. How can you regulate a camping permit on someone else's property.
We, in our rural area, have a lot of people who live off the grid. Camp trailers and RV's are greatly improved and many are as good as a small apartment with all the amenities.
The declining economy has driven some people to this semi-nomadic life style. The ability to not be living in a tent or other shack on your own land is very appealing.
The downside for neighbors and yes, even for the government because of health hazards for others, would mostly consist of sanitation issues. If your RV or other accommodation has no septic or other way to dispose of the human waste and gray water than just dump it on the ground somewhere, that can be a problem. Garbage control?? Not taking trash and other garbage away can not only be unsightly but a hazard for health and safety with animals drawn to the trash.
Water sources can also be problematic. Do these permanent campers have wells? Do they draw water from streams, legally? Or do they illegally divert water for drinking and irrigation?
Generators can be a noisy pollution too. Solar is nice in some areas, but not always if you have forested shady spots.
There must be a middle ground that can be reached where people can live on their own property in the manner that they like, without negatively impacting the health and well being of those around them.
For those that want bigger government, this is bigger government.
Can't camp out of your own land?
The downside is nomadic lifestyles are difficult to tax. Where do you send the tax man? And if, in this case, the nomads stay put long enough; you can't milk more tax dollars from fees, such as hotel fees, telecommunication fees, sanitation fees, and electrical fees. I'm sure we are all shocked to discover those fees don't actually just cover the cost of using those things. There are also health issues.
Interestingly, nomadic lifestyle isn't bad if the nomads entered the area illegally. It seems only a problem if done legally.
Still, as others noted, this looks like blue on blue.
As my husband and I enter what many consider their retirement years, we have discussed the idea of becoming semi-nomads. When we are driving down the road or going camping for a weekend the topic seems to be economically feasible and desirable as we also see couples our age tooling down the road in a big pickup truck with a large RV (with bump outs for space) towing a little transportation car. The lifestyle seems appealing.
I would still want a small home base to which to return and storage for my family heirlooms and stuff that I don't want to part with. :-)
The On The Road lifestyle is not compatible with concern for global warming. Oregon and now California and probably other states as well are considering monitoring your driving by GPS and your mileage and taxing you accordingly.
DBQ at 1221 well said. Is regulating the off-gridders in your area much of a problem?
Since the cost of housing is so high here, there are people all over L.A. living in RVs. They try to find quiet streets where they won't be bothered by the cops, but they end up everywhere that the cops don't harass them. I considered retiring to a low cost RV life and traveling around the country a few years back, but waited too long and then I got caught up in blonde ambition.
Some of these people are decent, but a lot of them are just sloppy bums who throw trash around, and make a mess of the place. I've seen them more than once, near my business or my home, dump the sewage tank on the street. I know they were just trying to be really thoughtful, but being strangers they just didn't know what kind of gift to get me. If you want to live off the grid, then get the hell of the grid where nobody will have to deal with the refuse of your choices. You are not off the grid if I can smell your crap. The Golden Rule.
I'd be in favor of communities subsidizing non-profit parking lots for RVs with very low cost utility fees for basic power, water and sewage. These people could go there for basic safe low cost living in their RV with some dignity.
Thanks Deborah
No. Even though there are many people camping. It isn't much of a problem, mostly because the acreages are rather large in the outlying areas. 10 to 20 acres is common and not really that large either. There are already many who are 'off grid' anyway. People really don't care as long as it is not impact themselves or the campers aren't destroying the environment, diverting streams, strewing garbage etc.
When the encampments are too close to another house and the "campers" get too rowdy, stinky or destructive, then it does become an issue. Also if there are small children and it seems that they may not being watched after or taken care of.
Several people who have homes have relatives or friends who have sort of, unofficially, moved onto their property. Share some electricity, hooked up to the well for water and strung sewer lines into the septic tanks.
Bagoh's idea is a good one. There are many RV parks in our area here in No. Ca that are not very expensive and will take "long term" RVs. That would be good for those who are still able to afford a few hundred dollars a month to live, but for those who have nothing....a subsidized arrangement would be nice....not just for them but to keep the sewage etc off of the public streets.
Amartel said...
Your property is not really your property anymore
Actually, it probably never was. I paid off my mortgage in 1981. Every year my township sends me a property tax statement. If I fail to pay it, guess what, eventually they will take my property for tax noncompliance.
It's never been my property, and all of my neighbors are in the same situation. And, you home owners too, we all are just leasing our property from the government.
Don't believe me? Quit paying your property taxes and see what happens.
Thanks DBQ.
If I want to scare the shit out of my bride, I drive to rural Arizona w/ many shitty RV outposts and say, "I think we should get an RV." Those places are depressing as hell. Having a small RV and traveling Alaska would be very desirable for me. Drive to remote areas, use the ferry system to shuttle you north/south to islands. I could spend June-Oct. doing that. Not my wife, though.
I do find it amusing that "progressive" want to move "forward" to having no electricity and riding choo choo trains.
Trooper's Yankees really suck.
Stream of consciousness.
I'm a homebody, but I do give thought to a bug-out shelter. One within hiking distance of home in case the car can't start.
In spite of her best efforts, Everhart is now an outlaw.
Isn't that the point? Normal non criminal people and non violent, victimless activities are being made crimes.
Wonder how many of the homesteaders vote Democrat?
Like Ben Franklin said about the Republic; it's yours if you can keep it. Property tax is supposed to pay for things that support the community - roads, schools, etc. - and payment induces the property owners to monitor and regulate how their money is being spent. That's the theory, anyway. Now, with the byzantine out of control bureaucracies, the government is monitoring and regulating how we use our land. Bassackwards.
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