City Council battles great-grandmother
“In a meeting that lasted until midnight Wednesday, the City Council battled with a Marietta great-grandmother for her home, threatening to take her property with its powers of eminent domain.
After a back and forth of offers and counter offers, Peggy Price agreed to sell her home to the city for $91,500.
That amount is up from the $62,000 the city last offered Price before discussions about her property began.
Price said she has lived at 335 Allgood Road since 1979, and she couldn’t bear to leave the home that holds so many memories for her.
“I have raised my kids there, my grandkids and their kids,” Price said.
Neighbors say Price often sits on the porch of her one-story home situated on a 0.2 acre parcel.
The City Council threatened to condemn Price’s property if she did not accept the city’s offer at the meeting.
City Attorney Doug Haynie said the city had a right to take her land because it plans on using it to build a $3.5 million expansion of the Elizabeth Porter Recreation Center. The center sat on 1.8 acres before, but will expand to 4.8 acres. The funding for the project comes from the 2009 parks bond.”
Butschek, Hilary. MDJ Online 15 August 2014.