See Also

"Local Historic District Abolished in Monterey, Virginia" - By Leo M. Schwartz (Virginia Land Rights Coalition, January 15, 2003)
After a successful political battle led by property rights activists, the Monterey Town Council voted on December 19, 2002 to abolish the town's historic district, one of 200 local districts in Virginia. The spokesman for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources in Richmond, commented, "Our
department is not aware of any other local government in Virginia that has dissolved its historic district."

Essential Books
& Publications

"Biosphere Reserves—The International Vanguard of Rural Depopulation"- National Park Service: Part 2, Positions on Property, Vol. 2, No. 1
(PRFA, Jan. 1995)
(excerpt)

"Zoning and Building Codes" - Positions on Property Vol. 3, No. 2 (PRFA, 1996)

Publication Order Form

Additional Resources

Testimony to National Parks Subcommittee
Hearing on the National Historic Register, April 21, 2005
By Peter F. Blackman
The National Register is supposed to be elective and an honor. The National Park Service literature trumpets time and again that you can do anything you wish with your house without penalty. The "National Park Service and others will use the National Register as a bludgeon against the property owner and trample his property rights, if they can."

"Supplemental Statement to Testimony"
Subcommittee on National Parks
Hearing on the National Historic Register, April 21, 2005
By Peter F. Blackman
Owner of house in the Historic Green Springs District located in Louisa County, Virginia, cannot repair his unexceptional, decrepit house because of National Park Service's purported conservation easement on his house. The dispute is in litigation.

In-Depth Information

"What to Do? Neighbor Files Third Party Application for Historic Designation on My Home" By Merrill King, St. Petersburg, Fl.

Newport Historic Commission Dictates Expensive Window Replacement: Letter from James Baillargeron, Newport, R. I., to PRFA, January 26, 2009
Mr. Baillargeron, a 62-year-old veteran who had just retired from running a lobster boat, removed the old windows from his house, which is located in a historic district in Newport, Rhode Island, with the intention of reducing his heating bills by installing modern vinyl windows, which he ordered. He was reported to the Historic District Commission, which would not allow him to permanently install the vinyl windows at a cost of $320.00 each and ordered him to replace the 25 windows in the house with historically accurate, new wooden ones that cost $850.00 each.

"The Rights of Religious Institutions Facing Zoning and Historic Preservation" - By Roman P. Storzer, Storzer & Greene, P.L.L.C. Washington, D.C.; Twelfth Annual National Conference on Private Property Rights (PRFA, Albany, N.Y., October 18, 2008)
In no other area is there as much restriction on religious exercise, a First Amendment freedom, than in the land use context, with possibly the exception of prisoners. The federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, RLUIPA, targets landmarking and land use laws. Zoning boards no longer hold all the power. Churches, mosques and temples can go to court and get redress under a relatively strong standard of review.

"Property Law Today—The New Feudalism" -By Peter Blackman, Author and Attorney, Louisa, Virginia, Speech to the Ninth Annual National Conference on Private Property Rights (PRFA, Albany, N.Y., October 22, 2005)
Mr. Blackman discusses the disastrous ramifications of the disregard of property rights in American law today. He points out that we "have a burden of proof, but one that we can ably meet, to show that not only are property rights consistent with these other human rights, but that property rights are critical to them."

"National Historic Register Challenges Private Property Rights—Worth Commenting" - By Carol W. LaGrasse, Reprinted from the New York Property Rights Clearinghouse, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Spring 2005).
Formal listing on the National Historic Register is deceptively portrayed by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation as non-regulatory, but, once the designation is in place, the agency uses the weight of its office to enforce the designation when a building or zoning permit application is made.

"Group Campaigns to Save Hurricane Mountain Fire Tower" - By Carol W. LaGrasse PRFA, April 21, 2005
Loyalty to the 80-year old local landmark in Essex County is fueling a battle led by Elizabethtown resident Gretna Longware against the DEC's proposed reclassification of the area to "wilderness," apparently at the behest of influential environmentalists.

National Historic Districts - Letter to National Parks Subcommittee Chairman Devin Nunes from Carol W. LaGrasse, PRFA April 19, 2005
The Glimmerglass Heritage National Register Historic District illustrates the need to honestly warn property owners of the regulatory impact of listing on the National Historic Register and the importance of requiring individual property owner consent.

"Questions Historic District" - By Carol W. LaGrasse, PRFA, Letter to Editor published in Freeman's Journal, Cooperstown, N.Y., May 7, 1999
Once a building is placed on the National Historic Register, either individually or as part of a Historic District, the state's Environmental Quality Review Act, SEQRA, mandates that every state and local agency take into account the historic preservation of the building when the agency receives an application for the permit.

"Culture for Elite Consumer Consumption," - reprinted from Positions on Property, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Jan. 1995)

In-Depth Information