Coffeegrounds: Eminent domain, oil sands and Pacific Market
“ROHNERT PARK’S City Council dredged deep into its bureaucratic weapons closet to pull out a cobwebbed battleaxe labeled Eminent Domain and casually showed it to property owners on both sides of Wilfred Avenue.
The owners knew it was coming. They also knew Sonoma County’s Board of Supervisors has the same weapon, probably without cobwebs, in their closet, for Wilfred runs east-west in both the city and county.
At last count, 17 of the 22 property owners got the message and said “OK, chop off 35 feet of my front yard.”
Two of the five naysayers have committed to slightly altered terms of the battleaxe, and “discussions are underway” with the recalcitrant trio.
AN EMINENT DOMAIN ruling is a benefit to the casino. The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria (FIGR) are picking up the tab for all this work. They have an incentive to see it accomplished and, apparently, have the funds to pay for it.
But common sense dictates property owners are not in favor of a widened Wilfred Avenue. fronting their reduced property lines.
They don’t know about the casino’s impact on their water wells, and a casino’s increased traffic pattern will be startlingly different from their former homestead on a mostly quiet two-lane street with deep gullies on both sides.”
Snyder, Jud. The COmmunity Voice 22 February 2013.