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proposal would limit size of gatherings


OverSword

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From the article:

A plan to ban "frequent and large gatherings at neighborhood homes" is a lawsuit waiting to happen, a Fairfax County supervisor predicts.

Officials will get an idea Wednesday when public-comment hearings begin in Virginia's most populous county.

"I believe the county is risking a lawsuit and/or a Constitution challenge by interfering with peoples' right to assemble," Supervisor Pat Herrity said in a statement.

The proposed zoning ordinance limits "group assembly" at residences to 49 people a day. Such gatherings "shall not occur more frequently than three times in any 40-day period."

Story here

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I'm sure they could come up with an excuse for the number amount, such as fire hazards and such. But, how exactly would they be able to justify the frequency ban? Stupid, stupid proposal.

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So what's the rest of the story? I know there have been previous cases about pastors holding services in their homes and calling it a church. And of course, those poor persecuted Christian types jumped all over it this "threat" to their religion.

Oddly enough, you never heard from the poor guy's neighbor who had to deal with dozens of cars parked in front of his house every single Sunday morning.

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I thought fire codes too but 49 people in my house isn't the same as 49 people in yours. Every home would need inspected and decorated with a fire marshall's placard. Second, how much of an issue is the state having with people throwing multiple parties a month with over 50 people? This reeks of someone on or connected to the Hill who's got a neighbor they don't like who throws parties. If passed would the law apply to the next statesman who throws a lavish wedding or fundraiser of a few hundred people at his lavish mansion? Don't they have anything better to legislate?

Edited by F3SS
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The number of people limitation makes sense from at least a fire safety view point. However, the frequency of said meetings does not make sense.

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I'd love to know how they could possibly enforce it. Would you have to notify the Law if you were planning on having a Gathering, and how many would be expected? If they get reports of a Gathering, would they send a squad car to watch outside and keep count? All sorts of interesting opportunities present themselves. :-/

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This just sounds like something right out of a polish ghetto in the early 1940's. Not for the USA IMO

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The number of people limitation makes sense from at least a fire safety view point. However, the frequency of said meetings does not make sense.

No it doesn't. Not all homes are the same size. Next to that, a small home could have a huge yard so what's the safety concern with people outside especially if the house isn't the only way in or out of the yard.

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Would the Police also make a note of the political affiliations of those attending these Gatherings ... ? :innocent:

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Years ago, they would've had to do a head count at Mother's house almost every Sunday. By the time you have four grown children, with their husbands/wives and kids, each kid, big and small, brings a friend or three the pool and yard filled up pretty quickly.

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Would the Police also make a note of the political affiliations of those attending these Gatherings ... ? :innocent:

DOH! Eh, could be, doc.

Edited by RavenHawk
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Dutchland Dutchland ich ben ober alles.....

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Dutchland Dutchland ich ben ober alles.....

I unliked it just so I could like it twice
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This is motivated by something besides the overwhelming concern of the safety of the people...

c'mon man...this wreaks of political "gotcha"...

My guess this is targeting groups that hold political activist meetings at their residences...for whatever party...it would be interested to see who authored and hosted this bill/ordinance.

There is an agenda here, you can smell it...poop_zps15f98c18.gif

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I went out on the net to see if I could find who or what was behind this proposal, the back story, something more than just quotes, and couldn't find any sources other than Fox News, some "Patriot" websites, some right-wing, conservative websites, nothing from any non-biased news source. Does anyone know any more about this than what's in the article? Sorry, these days I'm not willing to take any thing like this at face value. The article provided very little information.

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Meh.

If I had 50 or 60 people showing up at my neighbour's once a week lining the street with parked cars, I'd be P.O.'ed.

Wouldn't you?

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Meh.

If I had 50 or 60 people showing up at my neighbour's once a week lining the street with parked cars, I'd be P.O.'ed.

Wouldn't you?

Why do you think they'd be lining the streets? Lots of people, like us, had plenty of parking in their own driveways, or a field, and we lived in the suburbs.

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I think this is actually going too far. If the crowds are making noise at an inappropriate hour. Or they are making trash on public land. Or, breaking any of dozens of other ordinances, then call the cops. AFAIK there is no law saying 50 people can't take up all the public parking on a street.

If this was more broad in the area it is to be applied to, I'd say totally no way. As people who own, say 30 acres, should have no problems with neighbors.

We already have laws that can be applied in these situations. IMHO, in this case, we don't need to trample on more the Constitution.

Edited by DieChecker
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I'd love to know how they could possibly enforce it. Would you have to notify the Law if you were planning on having a Gathering, and how many would be expected? If they get reports of a Gathering, would they send a squad car to watch outside and keep count? All sorts of interesting opportunities present themselves. :-/

They would probably enforce it by using one of those armored military vehicles that local police departments are buying up en masse. You've got to find some sort of 'practical use' to parade those things around and demonstrate a show of force, right? I mean surely, if there is a large group of people gathered in someone's home...that has GOT to be a red flag for some kind of domestic terrorism don't you think?

(*sarcasm*)

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Does anyone know the back story? Who proposed it and why? Locally, these kinds of things are introduced by a city council member or someone on the board of supervisors, and it usually has to do with a specific situation or person, which is almost always reported in the local paper & news organizations. When I go out on the net to research and the first two or three pages are conservative organizations, it makes me skeptical as to whether it's actual news or just another political news byte. I opened a few links and they all seemed to be a variation of the Fox News piece.

OK, found this on the Fairfax Times newspaper web site. I live in a college town, we have similar ordinances to reduce the large, loud and usually drunken parties that are common on weekends. The students wander around in a drunk stupor, trash people's yards, puke everywhere, play music loud enough to be heard a block away. Doesn't sound like this is the case in Fairfax, but there can be legitimate reasons to control large gatherings.

Fairfax County proposes new rules for noise, house parties

Fairfax County is holding three public meetings to gather community feedback on proposed zoning ordinance changes that would update noise limits and place restrictions on the number and frequency of large gatherings in a private home.

The overall goal of the proposed noise ordinance is to minimize nighttime noise and guarantee residents a certain level of quietness within their homes, according to zoning officials.

The zoning ordinance currently does not identify guidelines for the frequency or scale at which group gatherings are permitted in a home. Without this specificity, managing and addressing impacts of these large, frequent gatherings becomes problematic, according to zoning officials.

Edited by Beany
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Here you go beany

http://www.fairfaxco...oningordinance/

Edit to add I didn't read it yet so can't be %100 positive this is the right one.

And this from another page gives insight into the motivation behind the proposal

;

The extreme proposal comes after a 15-year-old was hospitalised after being found drunk at a Virginia house party which got out of hand last month.

Edited by OverSword
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I get what Beany is trying to say. There are plenty of reasons a huge party could be troublesome but I read this as a for the entire state of Virginia. Local ordiances are different. Statewide application is non-sensical if that's the case. That's like saying I can't party in Pittsburgh because of the dumb college kids in Penn State University.

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I get what Beany is trying to say. There are plenty of reasons a huge party could be troublesome but I read this as a for the entire state of Virginia. Local ordiances are different. Statewide application is non-sensical if that's the case. That's like saying I can't party in Pittsburgh because of the dumb college kids in Penn State University.

The easy explanation to that is in the link above your post. This affected someones 'mansion' :gun:
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Ah.... So basically this is just a "DO SOMETHING!!" kind of law. It will not actually prevent anything, but it makes it look like the politicians care and want to help.

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