Aunty,
Do you know start to insult when you don't have an answer. Owing back property taxes does not make you a slime, it makes you owe huge penalties. And what does that have to do with being a land raper? I can handle anything and do. Dog fish, I really don't think we need to make all code retroactive, but I do think it is unreasonable to put excessive codes when the result does not justify the cost and at the same time ignore problems that could be fixed at a minimal cost because they are grandfathered in. I worked on developing a parcel in Pierce County in which the neighbor on the far side of the property cleared a portion of the wetland back in the 1970's. The county required that we replant the section on our property, while not requiring her to do anything. All of our impact was on the far side of the wetland, about 500 or more from where any new development would take place. From the looks of it, the neighbors yard was completely wetland. My solution would have been to quit claim the section she damaged to her and the problem would then disappear, since the county agreed her actions were grandfathered. We sold the property before we finished and the new owner submitted to the county requirement. My estimate is that they spent $10,000 to replant a 5 by 100 foot section next to her yard. The rest of the developed parcel had 100 foot or bigger buffers to the wetland, but her cleared yard would flood every winter. In her defense, part of the runoff was due to the other neighbor filling in his portion of the wetland and stopping runoff. I am sure they were all there at the hearings talking about how increased development was going to hurt the enviroment. They always are.