Planning and zoning laws are used to uphold inequality in Iowa

Iowa’s largest city is turning its planning ordinances against a community project to feed the hungry.

Des Moines regulators last week warned local organizers that their community refrigerator violates city code. Supporters of the North Des Moines Community Fridge say the pantry — which is housed in a shed in a front yard — was operating for less than a month before they received a letter threatening potentially thousands in fines if the shed is not removed.

The city’s warning cites portions of city code regulating accessory structures. Organizers are ordered to remove the shed or move it to the backyard, where it would be less accessible to people in need.

It is sad to see the government waste resources on policing a laudable anti-hunger effort. But it’s unsurprising, considering the many ways local governments wield land-use regulations to interfere in our lives.

Cities impose a complicated web of nuisance controls, building regulations, and planning and zoning ordinances. In the most charitable view, they are meant to protect residents from real hazards such as pollution, fire and heavy automobile traffic. In practice, though, these laws are used to uphold inequality and deprive Iowans of our property rights.

Restrictionists use phrases like “preserve neighborhood character” to explain why certain undesirable activities or people don’t belong in their neighborhoods. The attitude is summed up by the acronym NIMBY — “not in my backyard.”

The ordinances creep far past the legitimate mission of protecting health and safety. Instead, local governments spring into action to address minor inconveniences, perceived eyesores and riffraff. In short, politically empowered people want to shield their neighborhoods from certain types of others — usually poor people, young people and people of color.

Because local governments have so much control over land use, property stakeholders — homeowners, landlords, developers and their business partners — flock to it and use it to promote their interests, especially by snuffing out anything interesting or useful in zones designated for single-family homes.

Those might be seen as negative unintended consequences. Or maybe they are the intended but unstated consequences.

Some cities, including Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, specifically list protecting property values as an intent of their ordinances. Des Moines still uses the outdated language of promoting “morals.”

The product is boring neighborhoods with big houses and lots of sidewalks but nowhere to walk to.

Policies like single-use zoning, minimum lot sizes and parking mandates effectively create chores — driving to and from work because it’s too far to walk, and doing yard work because you have to have a lawn but natural landscaping is restricted.

Inequality festers as renters are pushed to one side of town and wealthy homeowners to another. They are practically separate communities, each with their own elementary school attendance zones.

Accessory structure limits block tiny homes, small business opportunities and social service projects, as we see in Des Moines.

Those might be seen as negative unintended consequences. Or maybe they are the intended but unstated consequences.

Hosts of the North Des Moines Community Fridge say they would sooner chain their bodies to the pantry than move it, according to a statement quoted by the Des Moines Register.

"Threatening to dismantle a food pantry during a global pandemic with record unemployment and food insecurity is a crime against humanity," organizers wrote.

adam.sullivan@thegazette.com; (319) 339-3156