Good Neighbor U?

While no one was looking, our state legislature repealed a state law making the land-development activities of universities subject to the zoning laws of the towns in which they reside (Senate Bill 669, repealing Section 41[e] of S.L. 2004-199).

The upshot of this is of particular cause for concern in Boone, where Appalachian State University is busily eating the town and belching in the citizens' faces. In recent months, the university has been cited at least three times for violating zoning regulations, from cutting historic trees to failing to provide building setbacks as proscribed by law. The university's reaction to being told to cease and desist? "Shove it up your alimentary canal ... SIDEWAYS!"

Or, more specifically, "You have no control over what we choose to do. We are above the law. We are certainly above YOUR law."

As evidence of unneighborly (and illegal) behavior on the part of ASU has piled up, the state legislature decides to be an enabler of what amounts to wife-beating. Presumably, things are only going to get worse.