To conservatives, land use regulations are like the old joke about lawyers

Which old joke about lawyers?  The one that goes "everyone hates lawyers, until they need one. "


We saw this principle in action in the recent fight over the proposed private landfill in Bennett.  Recall that Bennett is a conservative part of the county where there is no zoning and the residents like it that way.  


How conservative is Bennett?  In the 2010 general election, the Republican commissioner candidates all received over 80% of the vote in the Bennett precinct.  In the NC Senate election, Republican Roger Gerber got 66% of the vote in Bennett while getting only 45% countywide and getting just 40% of the votes in the Senate district overall, in an otherwise great year for Republicans.  So I think we can stipulate that the voters of Bennett are rock-ribbed property rights conservatives. 


Well they are until someone wants to build something they don't like, like a private landfill.  Then they look just like the liberals, pinkos, and property rights haters of Eastern Chatham.  In fact their arguments against allowing a private landfill in their community could easily have been written by any liberal eastern Chathamite.  Two of their arguments in particular stand out.  They were both made, among other places,  in this post on the Chatham County bulletin board by poster mary51802, who is of course a staunch supporter of our conservative, property rights commissioners:

we found out in Chatham is one of the counties were the Shiners are endangered in our Cape Fear River basin, and a report on livestock revenue for the area along with a federally protected Woodpecker lives here.

We also have proved that he cannot change the frontline or road on 902 because of the Scenic Highway designation. It also states that any business that appears on it has to fit in with the area and it will not. 

Here's what's most interesting about these arguments. 

1. The attempted use of the endangered species act, which in any other circumstance conservatives would at best sneer at someone else using that to protect themselves from a project, and at worst that they believe should be repealed anyway. I mean seriously, can you imagine what Mary or any other Chatham County conservative who supported her on this  would say about an Eastern Chatham resident saying that a major development or shopping mall should be stopped because of endangered shiners and federally protected woodpeckers?    
2. The use of the Scenic Highway designation which results in a requirement that any business should "fit in"  (remember this is an unzoned part of the county).  This one was particularly rich, as these are the same people who oppose allowing another part of the county to have a corridor ordinance to protect their quality of life, then are quick to use a highway corridor law to protect themselves from development. 

Now don't get me wrong, I'm glad the landfill was defeated.  The hypocrisy of its opponents doesn't make this landfill a good idea.   But now that Bennett's conservatives (with the support of our conservative property rights commissioners) have used progressive and liberal arguments to defeat a landfill in their own backyard, the question becomes:  


Did they gain a new appreciation for how these types of laws and regulations can help protect citizens, or will they now go right back to working to make sure no one else can benefit from the same protections they just used for themselves?