Zoning and Jobs - Sorry, No Connection

Advocates of zoning claim it will bring many jobs to our county. Let’s examine that claim. There have been many efforts at job creation in Greene County. The City of Linton has tried on several occasions to rejuvenate the old Chair Factory. Public funds and grants have been used as incentives to get companies to come to the city. This money was used to assist new companies in a variety of ways, possibly even helping to subsidize wages paid to the county residents they hire. Each time, as soon as funds are exhausted, companies leave and the city is left holding the bag. The Greene County Economic Development Corporation has used these same methods in the county and produced essentially the same result. It should be obvious after 20 years that you can’t buy jobs and these companies are coming here not to create jobs but rather to get the money. It may be a booming business for name changing companies to make money by going from place to place. Let’s quit deceiving ourselves and simply look at the obvious record for the last 20 years. The record on job creation efforts clearly shows that successful companies locate or leave areas for only sound business reasons and not because of incentives, or least of all, zoning.

In our surrounding area we can observe sound business decisions, zoning, and no zoning all in action. Two counties first come to mind, both of which are more metropolitan, populated, and industrialized than Greene County and do not directly compare to Greene County in many ways. They are Vigo and Monroe. Both of these counties are zoned and have been for a long time. Both had most of their industrial development prior to zoning, so zoning cannot be said to have attracted industry. Both, like Greene County and everywhere else, have suffered heavy job losses and factory closings over the past 30 years. Economic development is, as much about maintaining development, as it is about creating it, and it is clear that zoning in these counties had nothing to do with either job creation or in preventing job losses. Obviously zoning in these counties was clearly irrelevant to jobs.

To our north and south are Owen, Knox, Pike and others, which, much like Greene County, are primarily agricultural and comparable to Greene in demographic terms. These counties adopted zoning for many of the same reasons the zoning advocates now are emphasizing. Industry has not came to these counties. In fact, there are no more jobs in these counties today than before. Ask the residents; they will tell you. I interact with people from these counties in the mining industry and they all say the same thing about jobs. Zoning clearly has not benefited these counties.

But surprisingly though, to our west is Sullivan County, which like Greene County, is agricultural and not zoned. Sullivan is probably the most comparable county to Greene in this area. The Brampton Brick Company is nearing completion of a multi-million dollar brick foundry in northern Sullivan County. This company will not leave, and will provide jobs and economic benefits for Sullivan County residents for years to come. It’s significant to note that this company purchased farm land for their plant and weren’t hamstrung by meddling county officials who thought they had a plan or could tell them where to locate.

The evidence all around us is clear, that contrary to what the zoning advocates say, zoning isn’t a factor in creating or keeping jobs nor been shown to be economically beneficial in any county.

Otis J. Russell, Chairman
Citizens for Property Rights
RR# 1 Box 140
Switz City, IN 47465
812-659-3334