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All Things Nebraska
The Nebraska Legislature began talking about “extraterrestrials” the other day, and well, who could pass up writing about that?
I have a buddy who insists that an alien craft hovered over his acreage outside of Ashland. There’s another buddy who is convinced that he was followed by an alien ship while driving down a remote western Nebraska highway.
So I’ve heard some stories. Thanks to these new-fangled “prediction markets” like Kalshi and Polymarket, we can actually place bets on the chances that extraterrestrials will visit our planet in the next few years. I mean, what a wonderful world. Anyway, the conversation in the State Legislature was about those folks who live just outside our cities, towns and villages, but are within the zoning jurisdiction of those municipalities.
Those three- to one-mile areas are called “extraterritorial zoning jurisdictions” or EZJs. Anyone who lives in those doughnut-shaped zones should rightly be called “extraterrestrials.”
State Sen. Beau Ballard, who represents northwest Lincoln and areas just outside Lincoln in Lancaster County, said it was unfair that those who live in EZJs cannot vote in city elections, since such extraterrestrials are subject to zoning and planning laws — and associated fees — adopted by the adjacent city or town.
That amounts to “taxation without representation,” the senator maintained. So he proposed Legislative Bill 915, which would allow voters who live in EZJs to vote in city elections and even run for city offices.
His pitch invoked the rallying cry that inspired the Boston Tea Party after Britain imposed an unpopular tax on tea. The act of defiance ultimately led to the American Revolution.
But we ought to consider that zoning and planning rules are a very small part of what a city does. Cities build streets and sewers, ensure fire and police protection, and provide nice parks and areas for businesses, using taxes paid primarily by city residents.
Sure, a city can impose rules and fees on the construction of new homes and streets in EZJ areas outside the city, but those areas will eventually be annexed into a city, so it makes sense that homes, sewers and roads meet city standards.
An Omaha state senator, John Cavanaugh, pointed out that allowing people from outside the city to influence a wide range of city services – besides zoning – tended to give them more power than they deserved.
Cavanaugh argued that EZJ residents shouldn’t have a say on how a city provides water, police and fire and snowplowing, because they don’t support those services with their tax dollars, and don’t receive those services.
The senator also speculated that if you allowed people in an EZJ to run for city offices, you could have an entire city council and mayor elected to run a city they don’t live in.
That seems kinda far-fetched until you consider Gretna, a fast-growing Omaha suburb. That city’s population has grown to 9,300 people, but more than 12,000 people live just outside Gretna in housing subdivisions within its EZJ. Who would have the voting power there?
Ballard came loaded for bear when he introduced his bill to a legislative committee. Supporters included the current Secretary of State, Bob Evnen, and a former state attorney general, Doug Peterson.
But representatives of Lincoln and Omaha, which would be the only places impacted after Ballard’s bill was amended, opposed LB 951 as going too far.
They pointed out county zoning boards already allow at least one member to be from the EZJ, so their views should be represented. Cavanaugh offered to work with Ballard on a compromise, maybe one that allowed extraterrestrials to vote only on who sits on planning boards.
It was a fascinating debate, albeit one that gets pretty deep into the weeds of municipal governance.
But I’d say this – anyone who builds a house or moves into one near a city is doing it because they want the benefits of a city – like shopping, jobs, schools and entertainment options – without paying the taxes or fighting the traffic every day in the city.
Somehow, I think living close to a city ought to be enough.
