Every once in a while, a new twist on the government land grab really raises my eyebrows. A reader familiar with the case emailsone such case:

Some call it a Catch-22 situation. Others say it’s a bureaucratic nightmare that Janice and Gary Duclair have found themselves in as they try to sell their house at 4254 Vervais Ave. After living there since 1977, and with their children now grown, they have moved to Manteca and asked local Realtor Mike Carey to sell the house. Located in a commercially zoned area, or so he thought, since the Duclairs moved there, he had an offer of $850,000 from a buyer who wanted to use the house for a business venture. But City Hall turned him down when he sought assurances the buyer could get a business permit. It seems that unbeknownst to the Duclairs or almost anyone else in Pleasanton, the City Council had rezoned the land for a park.

Now, I can buy that a park is public use and as long as there is just compensation, there shouldn’t be any of the objections I normally have. But doing such a thing out of the public eye is questionable if not outright criminal. Additionally, it seems that no one was aware that anyone lived on the street in question as it was set aside for a new road.

When city planners attack from behind closed doors, something seems awry.

Posted in Eminent Domain on February 7th, 2005 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |