From: "Harry K" 
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: HOA in the county
Date: 23 Dec 2005 18:45:41 -0800
   posting-account=3X3iVQwAAAA5qeF0JLSgIGYnZgL6amWt

Well, not really an HOA but for the life of me I don't see much
difference.

My county (Whitman) in SE Wa is redoing their county zoning ordinance.
It is a very rural agricultural area.  Prior it was very restrictive in
that it was almost impossible to get a permit to build at all.
Basically you had be the landowner to build a new house to replace your
old one.  Then they eased it a bit by requireing any land that was to
be built on had to be taken out of production for at least 3 years
plus allowed some subdivision areas around major intersections only.
The new one has such provisions as:

Minimum lot size (don't recall acreage now but it is fairly big) - I
don't have a problem with that.
Can't be more than x feet from the county road.
Can't be built on a hill top
Must be built x feet from the nearest farm land
Must have approval of paint color
Must have approval of plantings
Must have approval of light fixtures

Anyone want to apply to be the new ayatollah??

Harry K