Posted on 05/29/2006 10:38:31 AM PDT by calcowgirl
Homewood Mountain Resort's ski area occupies the largest piece of developable property remaining in the Lake Tahoe basin. With elevations reaching 1,600 feet above the lake's famed blue waters, the views from its slopes are spectacular. The property includes two lakes and crosses three watersheds.
And it's for sale.
If owner Jeff Yurosek has his way, 1,086 acres will be sold to the U.S. Forest Service under a deal that will keep the struggling ski business open. The estimated $60 million to $65 million the property is likely to fetch will be used to build an expanded commercial center on land along Highway 89 that will remain privately held.
That plan was moving forward largely in secret until Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville, brought it to an abrupt halt this month.
The Forest Service wants the property and has appealed to Congress for the money to buy it. The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency also has vigorously embraced the proposal, which until two weeks ago had been kept a closely guarded secret enforced by signed confidentiality agreements.
But when the text of a 2007 spending bill for the Interior Department was made public just before its approval by the House, it revealed a provision by Doolittle -- a powerful House Appropriations Committee Republican and an ardent private-property rights defender -- torpedoing the sale.
Brian Jensen, Doolittle's district director, said the government already owns too much property that it can't manage properly and putting more land into federal hands means lower property tax revenues for local governments, in this case Placer County.
"We don't see a real environmental benefit because there's no change in land use," Jensen said. "The landowner would be selling property to the federal government then leasing back that portion it actually uses. We don't see how that's an improvement."
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Go Doolittle!
This was a long article. You might want to read the whole thing. More land-swap shenanigans, IMO.
Most representatives "Do Little" and what they do do, they do wrong.
Thank you for pinging this to my attention!!! It is wonderful!!!
Are you saying you disagree with his act?
Hey! (grin) Easy on the "do do!" (smirk)
"Are you saying you disagree with his act?"
Nope. Just observing that he qualifies for membership in the proper job club.
I have no idea what that means.
Trivia columnist L. M. Boyd, now retired, used to list what he called candidates for the Proper Job Club. These were people whose last names sort of dove-tailed with what they did for a living; you know, like a guy named Glassman working at Lenscrafters. Or, a politician named Doolittle?
ROFL! Thanks. I'd never heard that before.
Thank you!
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