After Tom and Doris Dodd bought 40 acres of property in Hood River, Oregon, the Hood River County Planning Commission refused them permission to build their retirement home. The commission had re-zoned the area as "forest land"—where houses may not be built because they increase the risk of fire, a rule that applies only to parcels 40 acres or over. The minimum size available to the Dodds was 40 acres. Tom Dodd wonders why the commission doesn't consider homes built on less than 40 acres a hazard, "but over 40 it's going to burn down?"

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