National Heritage Areas

The Washington Post reports that the Heritage Foundation is going after heritage areas. In particular, they are looking askance at the NPS' National Heritage Areas which are declared by Congress but often overseen by local government (with some regions being coordinated by an NGO).

National Heritage Areas "pose a threat to private property rights through the exercise of restrictive zoning that may severely limit the extent to which property owners can develop or use their property," wrote Cheryl Chumley and Ronald D. Utt of the Heritage Foundation in a recent report on heritage areas. Chumley and Utt said such "regulatory takings" through zoning are the "most common form of property rights abuse today."

The WP reports that there are currently 37 such regions across the country, with more on the way. (BTW, the online comments are as interesting as the article)