'We the people' need to get involved

Living in rural Linn County and early into our elderly years, my wife and I decided to sell off 30 of our 36 acres that we've owned for 29 years and no longer need.

Phone calls to a couple local Realtors informed us Linn County requires ownership of 35 acres to build a house on.

Knowing that neighbors had acreages of 2 1/2, 5, 8, 10, 12 and 20 acres, my wife, Linda, checked our abstract. It eased our greatest fear/ Linn County was in no way part owner of our land. Then how can Linn County tell us what we can and cannot do with our land?

Knowing our 30 acres, half timber and half open, hadn't been farmed in nearly 20 years, we surely could get it rezoned to residential.

A trip to planning and zoning offices in Cedar Rapids was next. They told us our land had to be a quarter of a mile from a hard-surface road (ours is 3 miles) and a whole list of other criteria that wouldn't make sense to a gnat.

I'm thinking “we the people” need to get more involved in our gnat governments and voting on the issues.

Gary L. Roberts

Center Point