Megan Graham, spokeswoman for the county, said the U.N. and Agenda 21 have had no role in La Plata County\u2019s land-use code revision effort.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe code comprises the regulations that reflect the policies outlined in the county\u2019s comprehensive plan, which the Planning Commission adopted after two years of community involvement,\u201d Graham said in an email sent to The Durango Herald. \u201cAs well, the code embodies the consensus priorities developed by the board of county commissioners and the public at the outset of the revision project in late 2016.\u201d<\/p>\n
Agenda 21, which is completely voluntary and non-binding, was signed by then-President George H. W. Bush along with 177 other governments. It offers suggestions on how best to combat poverty, protect natural resources and cut back on pollution.<\/p>\n
However, a fringe movement highly suspicious of Agenda 21 formed soon after its release. Tom DeWeese of the American Policy Center became one of the first leaders of the end-Agenda 21, or \u201cAgender,\u201d cause.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt leads to control over private property, energy use, water use,\u201d DeWeese wrote for the American Policy Center in 2011. \u201cIt all means locking away land, resources, higher prices, sacrifice and shortages and is based on the age-old socialist scheme of redistribution of wealth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Opposition to Agenda 21 increased when the tea party gained a foothold in politics and political pundits like Glenn Beck popularized the notion that the U.N. is working to strip Americans of their individual constitutional rights.<\/p>\n
In 2012, the Republican National Committee formally denounced Agenda 21, calling it a \u201cdestructive and insidious scheme\u201d that is \u201cerosive of American sovereignty,\u201d drawing praise from conservative and tea party leaders.<\/p>\n These accusations, over the years, have been cast as conspiracy theories, paranoia, fear-mongering and is also seen as an example of modern-day McCarthyism, an unfounded campaign in the 1950s tying people to communism.<\/p>\n John Culver, a retired California Polytechnic State University professor of political science who has lived in Durango for almost 20 years, said Agenda 21 has always been tied to a longtime distrust of the U.N.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore the ink was dry setting up the U.N. (in 1945), there was a fear from some people it was going to lead to a one-world government,\u201d said \u201cOf course, there is nothing to support that.\u201d<\/p>\n This fall, the La Plata County planning department released the draft of proposed land-use codes that county officials say will help guide growth in a region expected to experience an unprecedented population influx.<\/p>\n The land-use codes, which have not been updated since the 1980s, provide certainty for landowners and developers about what can be done to a particular property. The current regulations are ambiguous, county officials say.<\/p>\n But from the beginning, some county residents have opposed the idea of being told what they can and cannot do with their land and say the codes are an overreach of government and an attempt to take away individual citizen rights.<\/p>\n These critics point to certain aspects of the code that impose development standards along river corridors and some scenic highways, as well as restrictions on temporary storage facilities and required permits for large events on private property.<\/p>\n More controversial is the introduction of zoning. Out of 64 counties in Colorado, La Plata County is one of only five counties without zoning, said Planning Director Jason Meininger. Opponents say zoning laws would likely devalue their property.<\/p>\n Only three people out of about 30 who spoke at the Jan. 16 meeting connected the land-use codes and Agenda 21, but each speech garnered loud applause. Since that meeting, the conspiracy link has gained traction on Durango-centric social media groups on Facebook.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t care if you call me a conspiracy theorist because I say, if you say you\u2019re not going to fall for conspiracy theory, you already have,\u201d Judy Hendricks said at the January meeting. \u201cBecause we\u2019ve got it right now. Agenda 21 is in our country. We need to get it out of La Plata County, out of Colorado and out of our country.\u201d<\/p>\n The Herald reached out to Hendricks last week for additional comment for this story, but she declined.<\/p>\n At the local level, Culver said anytime regulations are proposed that involve property rights, there is often a segment of the population that suspects foul play and outlandish plots.<\/p>\n Anti-Agenda 21 beliefs have previously entered local politics when there was the prospect of long-range planning and code implementation in La Plata County.<\/p>\n In 2011, a handful of residents accused the planning department of being under the direction of the U.N. when developing a comprehensive plan. The plan is a policy document to guide future growth and would have served as foundation for land-use codes.<\/p>\n A controversial letter to the editor published in the Herald from then-alternate planning commissioner Art Charette, alerted La Plata County residents that the comprehensive plan would lead to the U.N. takeover plot. The letter led to Charette\u2019s firing.<\/p>\n The comprehensive plan took two years to develop, involved more than 150 public meetings and cost $700,000 in consulting fees, but it was ultimately scrapped.<\/p>\n \u201cThey thought we were taking land and taking property rights and going to turn it into a militarized state,\u201d Wally White, who was a county commissioner at the time, told the Herald last week.<\/p>\n \u201cOur planning commission had several extreme right-wingers, and they voted it down, which was a huge disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n While the same line is being drawn to connect Agenda 21 and this version of the land-use codes, it is unclear what specifically in the codes has some residents concerned about the U.N. plot.<\/p>\n