Zoning vs. Eminent Domain: How Ventura County Shut Down The Pine Mountain Inn
In the northernmost reaches of California's Ventura County, a two-lane rural road called Highway 33 runs into the rugged and mostly undeveloped Transverse Mountain Range. Though it's mostly raw wilderness, a few businesses catering to adventurous explorers have long existed there, some for more than a century.
But now the local government is shutting those businesses down, one by one, using arcane zoning and building-code laws to get the job done.
"If there isn't someone complaining, and there isn't really a serious public health and safety issue, why do they spend so much of their time pursuing these kinds of cases?" asks Lynne Jensen, executive director of the Ventura County Coalition of Labor and Business (COLAB).
Tom Wolf owns the Pine Mountain Inn, a restaurant that's been serving biker groups and local community organizations since the 1930s. Wolf temporarily had to shut the doors when he suffered a heart attack in 2002, and he was never able to reopen when the county informed him that his property had been rezoned as an "Open Space" back in the 1980s without his knowledge.
"[The county] wanted everybody out of here," says Wolf. "And they wanted a complete open space with nothing but deer and frogs... and no people."
No matter how hard Wolf tried to comply with the ever-changing codes, the county just wouldn't relent, at one time even ordering him to remove a chicken coop that had never actually existed on the property.
Wolf isn't alone, says Jensen. Several other small businesses along Highway 33 have been hit by multiple county agencies for no apparent reason.
"They had every department hit us with violations to make sure that they shut us down," says April Hope, who, along with her husband Bob, owns a bed and breakfast called The Wheel, which has existed in the area since the 1890s.
Since the Hopes purchased The Wheel in early 2000, they've never been able to open it to the public. While officials from the county supervisor's office and the planning department refused to speak with ReasonTV for this story, Jensen says that the county is using code enforcement to drive these businesses off the land without compensation.
"This rezoning is really a way to get around eminent domain, because eminent domain means you give up your entire property. And here, you only give up part of your rights," says Jensen.
Invoking eminent domain to seize private property would not only require the county to compensate landowners, but also to demonstrate that the taking served a "public use."
"They have been very successful in taking people's property in a number of different ways without compensation as long as they don't take ownership of it," says Jensen.
About 5.30 minutes.
Written and Produced by Zach Weissmueller. Camera by Alex Manning, Tracy Oppenheimer, and Weissmueller.
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Unauthorized use of solar panels on my property? Really? What a fail of a state.
As a kid and young adult living in Ventura county in the 70s and 80s, I spent a lot of time in this area. Being raised among motorcycles I remember they heydays of "The Wheel," "Pine Mountain Inn," "The Halfway Inn," and several other establishments along Highway 33. My family regularly rode motorcycles to these places and camped at them. They are some of my greatest memories and these places need to be free to reopen and serve those who want to visit them.
"This is how the game is played, it just never stops." Truer words were never spoken.
My Dad Tom Wolf and my Mom both did everything in their power to take back what was justly theirs but Ventura County was and is crooked. I thank my Dad for giving the experience and memories of Pine Mountain to myself, my children, our family and those patrons who were a part of my Dad's pride in his place. If he was alive today to tell you thank you for letting him share his Dream with you, he would. Over a beer and bowl of chilli! God bless.
I read that Highway 33 runs through some of the densest deposits of dilithium in the solar system. And the Ventura County zoning commission has the densest bureaucrats in the country.
My family and I have been dealing with this from our city for nearly 7 years. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.
Drove by this place the other day. It’s a real shame what the county did here.
There ought to be a Grandfather Clause for those already there.
This is truly a shame, especially since Ventura County used to be a haven for those looking to escape the draconian zoning regulations of Santa Barbara County. Revenue collection shakedowns; one thing the County excels at.
does anyone remember this country ever being free? i was told growing up that it WAS free, but i dont remember actually seeing any freedom here...
Maybe when some citizens revolt the elected officials will catch on that It's WE the people, not we the politicians that run this country. It's time to stand up and Restore our Rights.
this is my grandpa lol, family trips to pine mountain are still funny, no chickens though
"we need to have regulation there's no question about it" NO, You don't let them put their foot in the door, regulations are not needed so long as everyone's Rights are protected: Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Hapiness, and PROPERTY.
I've lived here my whole life and used to stop at the Pine Mountain Inn with my Dad when we went fishing. While I agree that we should protect the open space and agricultural land that makes Ventura County such a great place to live, this is an absurd use of resources and the law. These places are literally "in the boonies" and aren't causing anyone any trouble. A damn shame I probably won't be able to take my kids there someday.
I was raised in Ventura County and am very familiar with both of these establishments. It is a crime what the county is doing. I was talking to a friend who still lives in Ventura and he told me that the city is not allowing the residents of Ventura rebuild some of their homes after the Thomas fire. They are saying that the lot sizes are now to small for two story houses.
In the early 50s during the building of the "L.A. clover leaf part of the 101 freeway", the house that I lived in with my grandparents was taken by "eminent domain" This was done by the State of Calif. We were forced to move from the house I had been born in due to this law. They used the "freeway project" as the reason. The funny part is that the freeway never came up to that house so in the end, it was not used. It later became the location of the Chandler Pervillion!
Reason, please continue to follow up on this!
Not certain if the Hope's still owned The Wheel, but it and all of the surrounding buildings were consumed in the recent Thomas fire. Some recent activity at Wolf's: brand new metal/plastic picnic tables out in front. Tom Wolfe passed away recently.
Pretty sad; I just rode by there on my bike a couple of weeks ago. Too bad Ventura County @CountyOfVentura is so anti-common sense and anti-business.
If a business has been there for years, should not that business fall under the "grandfather" clause?