Neighborhoods battle changes

It's been a while since we've had two very public brawls over zoning. The first over Valley Christian Fellowship and the other over a group home in the foothills.

We get a couple of these storms a year, and though the details are different, the arguments are pretty consistent.

On the one side is someone's desire to take advantage of their property in some way by building a church, group home, casino, hotel, housing development, propane tank or something else neighbors would prefer did not occupy their view.

On the neighbors side, there's increased traffic, lowered property values and blocked views among other things.

Some would dismiss the neighbors' arguments as people reacting with "not in my backyard." But in a state where the fight against Yucca Mountain has made the "N" in NIMBY stand for Nevada, it's important to recognize their point of view.

People move to a place expecting a certain collection of things to be true. Among those things is that their neighborhoods aren't going to change very much. That the place they moved will look something like the brochure.

But here in Nevada, that's rarely the case and it can be frustrating.

People fought for a view of Jobs Peak before many neighborhoods were built. That they failed meant newer residents got the view, until something new came along.

We know that it's human nature for some to fight change and others to seek it.

But if those fighting change won all the time, there wouldn't be very many of us here to argue the issue. If they lost all the time, this would be a very different place.