Posted on 05/14/2002 5:05:40 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
My basic point is, the law is the law. You may not like it, but you can't wish it away.
After reading this thread for far too long I've come to the conclusion that the lake owner is a jerk, the home owners are jerks, but property is property.
If there is not a law against his fence, then he has every right to put one up.
There is no way the government will step in and force him to sell the lake. There is no "public interest" other than the property values of a small number of home owners. They really haven't lost any actual value, they never really had it to begin with.
Their best solution would be to form a corporation with the sole purpose of buying him out. Get 100% compliance will all the homeowners affected and offer him, say $10,000 total. Make it clear that you will pay no more than that. Make certain that the tax accessor understands that you do not have lake front property and that he does. If he doesn't agree quick, taxes will eat into his profit from the $10,000 offer.
If he stands firm, he will have an expensive piece of useless property.
I almost bought a place with a nice pond on it. It, too, was declared a wetlands. I took a pass on the property.
It was suggested earlier that the homeowners were stupid and lazy to have not known that someone would come in and purchase the pond. The same can be said of the lake owner, to have purchased a lake, erected a pink fence, and to not suspect that his actions could result in a condemnation/public takings.
There is too much stupidity on all sides of this case to hope to document.
It happens all over the place, though. You do need to keep an eye on who your city and county officials are schmoozing with--that will usually give you an early warning "WASSSUP!"
Nor mine. I agree with you wholeheartedly on the order of events as you described. What I tried to lay out for the other poster is what I think was the best strategy (still might be) for the homeowners. At this point, I'd expect they'll need to crawl to him on their knees to get his asking price down, but it could still happen.
Bottom line: government isn't the solution to this. If the homeowners were to leverage their purchasing power they likely stand to do a bit better than $30,000 apiece.
I'm sure there are; just as there are misuses of firearms. However, both are morally-neutral tools that are reasonable in terms of their possession. I would fight the misuse of this law, not its existence.
AMEN!
Gadzooks! I never thought I'd see the day that the inventor of the easilyconcealabledriveby12gaugehighcapacityassaultrevolver (action figure sold seperately) would suffer the libel of "statist".
This misuse should be fought, prosecuted, and the corrupt politicians brought under the State Atty. Generals close examination. People should be sent to jail for such things.
That said, there are many good and reasonable applications of Eminent Domain. I have seen highways get needed expansion, exits from thruways get created, farmland turned into forever-wild parks in the face of increasingly dense development, and so on. These are good uses of this law, and I would wager that for every corrupt use of the law, there are 1000 good uses of it.
Kinda like guns.
LOL! Some people whip out that Statist label if you disagree with their particular vision of utter Road-Warrior-Mad-Max anarchy. :o)
LOL! Agreed.
Post #2 on this thread, by none other than yourself, Strela;
The fence is wood construction, eh? It would be an awful shame if every board-foot happened to catch on fire and burn one dark night.
However, since I haven't seen such a post here, I struggle to understand why you would make such a general statement in support of law and order (especially considering some of the stuff I've seen you post in drug war threads).
I guess your struggle is over. I won't wait for a retraction much less an apology. I've seen your tricks before. Now I'll wait to see how you try to wiggle out of your own words. I'm sure you will think of something.
My basic point is, the law is the law. You may not like it, but you can't wish it away.
I agree with your whole post, and I too, stayed with the thread a lot longer than I normally would have. I figured eventually someone would be able to clear up the privacy fence versus a neighbors deck 'issue'. And you did!! lol
Because they taste good? >:) -Eric
Haha ha ha. LOL!
Not to butt in, but isn't Eminent Domain based on even older British law?
As we can see, the property tax system breeds ilk like this Connolly guy.
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