10-22-2010, 09:27 AM
Actually it's all related.
The County has the mechanism right now to acquire the land and acquire whatever roads they need to support the park. It's called eminent domain. A Public park and associated roads are a legitimate public use and good servicing a public benefit.
HPP doesn’t have to deed them anything, the county can acquire it, pay HPP for the property (make some money off the deal) and that puts everything in the County hands. The County doesn’t want to use eminent domain because unlike accepting a donation, they would have to move on the taking or run the risk of hording land via eminent domain with no public benefit.
You donate a fire truck to the county; they can always say they don't have money for a fire station or crew to man it. You give them a firehouse; they say they have no money for a fire truck or crew. But, if they take the land by eminent domain, they had better build and staff that fire station.
You shouldn't have to be in position to have to Trust the County, you should be in a position of expecting what is due. If you give them an out, you can trust them to use that out. You back them against a wall; they will be forced to act.
As an aside, this would be excatly what Impact Fees could fund and used for.
The County has the mechanism right now to acquire the land and acquire whatever roads they need to support the park. It's called eminent domain. A Public park and associated roads are a legitimate public use and good servicing a public benefit.
HPP doesn’t have to deed them anything, the county can acquire it, pay HPP for the property (make some money off the deal) and that puts everything in the County hands. The County doesn’t want to use eminent domain because unlike accepting a donation, they would have to move on the taking or run the risk of hording land via eminent domain with no public benefit.
You donate a fire truck to the county; they can always say they don't have money for a fire station or crew to man it. You give them a firehouse; they say they have no money for a fire truck or crew. But, if they take the land by eminent domain, they had better build and staff that fire station.
You shouldn't have to be in position to have to Trust the County, you should be in a position of expecting what is due. If you give them an out, you can trust them to use that out. You back them against a wall; they will be forced to act.
As an aside, this would be excatly what Impact Fees could fund and used for.