Camping In Your Own Back Yard Is Now Illegal

All across the United States authorities are making it increasingly difficult for people to live off the grid, with some officials now clamping down on people who choose to go camping in their own back yard. 

The off-grid lifestyle is enjoyed by around 800 people, but their way of life is under threat as officials try to regulate and license the lifestyle into oblivion.

Thefreethoughtproject.com reports:

Tensions boiled over during a county commissioners’ meeting in San Louis, Colorado, devolving into a shouting match between homesteaders and police. One of the major points of contention is the county’s attempt to ban camping on your own property, in an effort to force the off-grid homesteaders back onto the grid.

“We are residents who have come to live off the grid. It’s all our land.” … “These are harsh economic times. We have nowhere to go,” twenty-year resident Paul Skinner said.

“We’ve been regulated out of life,” homesteader Robin Rutan told Colorado Public Radio. “I came here because I couldn’t live by the codes [in other regions].”

The county, which requires residents to have a camping permit to live in an RV, “small house” or other camp style home, has started to simply refuse the renewal of these permits.

This is obviously a major problem for homesteaders, who often live in such accommodations while building their permanent residents.

“They started enforcing the changes before they were actually made,” resident Chloe Everhart said.

Everhart said she performed due diligence prior to buying her land, with one of the most important aspects of the plan being a 90-day camping permit. Without a 90-day permit, camping on residential plots is only allowed for 14 days per every three months.

But just as Everhart was arriving, the board of commissioners instructed the planning and zoning commission to no longer issue camping permits.

In spite of her best efforts, Everhart is now an outlaw.

County land use administrator Matt Valdez disputes the claims that the county is trying to regulate people’s lifestyles out of existence. He says that his office has discretion to deny camping permits under existing code and claims that too many new residents were habitually renewing permits meant to be temporary.

“We’re not trying to drive people off their property,” Valdez said.

Valdez said he simply wants to make sure already established rules are followed for aesthetic and safety reasons.

The vilification of people who choose to live an alternative lifestyle is extremely commonplace in modern America.

While there may be legitimate issues that need to be addressed, people have a right to use land that they own in the manner they see fit. To use the technicalities of the law to essentially evict people from land they own reeks of tyrannical overreach and oppression of personal liberty.

Update: The county has dropped it’s planned zoning changes under increased public scrutiny, but they continue to refuse to issue 90-day camping permits to the off-grid land owners.