“He knew land sold for a lot more than what was being offered.”
How about a law saying whoever set the value would have to sell their own property at a price proportionate to the land they were grabbing.
People talk like the utilities are just there to help us. The reality is that developers virtually control city councils and utilities. In my area the developers were allowed to build a new development supporting 20,000 new houses. Of course no improvement of the infrastructure was allotted to the surrounding community. Roads and other common items are overwhelmed. Does the developer or people who moved into that community pay for the infrastructure? No, they want to raise everyone elses taxes.
Another example is a large concrete company lobbied a councilman to build a county sports complex. Of course it would require ENORMOUS amounts of concrete. The county is planning to seize private property for this as well.
Isn’t it curious that the people effected by these enormous electrical towers and other projects are never the developers or city council??