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Welcome to Provo Citizens.net! 
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ProvoCitizens.net is a diverse group of citizens who care about the future of our beautiful city -- Provo Utah. We believe that many of the zoning laws that our city government has passed are over-reaching, unfair and will only unwisely increase the role of government in our lives. Ironically, many of these laws will not solve the problems for which they are intended.
We have a different approach and positive, common sense solutions.
Utah Republicans agree that current zoning discriminates!
"Different areas have different problems," said Rep. Fred Hunsaker, R-Logan. "I know we like to squeeze everybody in the same box and create this consistency, but that does not take care of the various problems other places in the state have."
Rep. Kerry Gibson, R-Ogden, agreed.
"The problem that we have way too often is planning
commissions, under the guise of zoning, take away property rights
and create the open space without paying for it, which is an absolute
taking of property rights," the dairy farmer said. "We might want to
allow local entities to find ways to solve their own property problems
through supply and demand."
source: The Herald Journal in Logan, Thu. Feb. 23, 2006; emphasis added.
Comments: Finally, some real Republicans instead of the 'socialist big-brother' variety! --Roger L. Brown
Zoning discriminates
I am dismayed at the current zoning debate raging in Provo, which restricts the number of singles allowed to live together. In today's society of supposed equality, the idea of discrimination based on any type of status — in this case marital — flies in the face of everything I thought America stood for.
Making restrictions based on behavior such as noise, parking, upkeep of a home and safety concerns is one thing, but saying "you cannot live in my neighborhood because of who you are" is another thing entirely. As a wife and mother, I would be horrified if the government were to place restrictions on who could be a part of my family, or where we could live.
Yet that is exactly what this proposal does — and it is akin to sanctioning segregation in an attempt to enforce the hopes and expectations of some homeowners while ignoring the civil rights of others. It does not guarantee playmates for my girls, the church we would go to or the school we would attend. That is no one's job but mine — though the planning commission and Councilman David Knecht seem to think differently.
I would be doing my girls a disservice in teaching them that my rights can trample someone else's, and I would be depriving them of growth and diverse friendships if I limited who could live by us in fear it would "change the nature of the neighborhood." Provo needs all residents to have equal rights and decent housing, even the unmarried ones.
Sarah Ruff
Provo, Utah
Death by Zoning
Zoning laws were created as a restriction on the free use of property in order to prevent one person's use from destroying everybody else's -- to keep me, for instance, from turning my corner lot into a pig farm or a paper pulp factory.
But zoning laws quickly turned into a tool of snobbery and stupidity -- keeping the "riff-raff" out of rich neighborhoods, and separating people from everything they do. ...
This didn't just "happen." This is required by our government.
Orson Scott Card
Greensboro, NC
Get out and vote!
Date: November 3, 2005
As a single student attending BYU and living in Provo, I've met with
frustrations when looking for a rental house. Recently, ordinances
concerning rental property have been put in place in areas like the
tree streets that are not single student friendly.
I think part of the problem is that some people do not see BYU students as real members of the community. I personally have looked for ways to contribute to the community by volunteering at a local elementary school and with the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Just because I don't plan to spend 20 years living in Provo doesn't mean I should be treated as a second-class citizen by long-term residents. It is too late to go register to vote today, but many students registered to vote in last year's presidential election. I strongly encourage these students to get out and vote on November 8th.
A vote for Paul Warner is a vote looking out for the interests of the students as well as our college town community. Warner is for maintaining property rights. While Cynthia Clark is a nice woman and a student, she is not a single student who needs to look for approved housing around BYU campus. This task is getting harder and the prices are getting higher as a result of ordinance changes like those she pushed for through grassroots activism in the tree streets.
Leaa Forschler
Seattle, Washington