[E Rocc]

These folks aren't freeloaders, though. They bought their properties surrounding this lake with the verbal, and very likely the written understanding of how the lake fit into the development. There is an easement of some sort that coame with it - because it was implicitly part of the marketing of their properties, and yes, tied into the value.

Pursuant to their part of the bargain, they kept it up - which makes them "not freeloaders".

They could have formed an organization to buy the lake at any time. Instead, they kept it in the presumed-to-be benevolent hands of the developer. I have no doubt that the tax delinquencies were listed and the auction was as well. That's the notification required by law. Government isn't required to hold people's hands, nor do we want it to be.

When I was growing up, there was an undeveloped street behind us. My one friend's family had a baseball field extending from their backyard to the lot behind them. My one next door neighbor on one side extended his backyard by cutting the grass beyond the property line. On the other side, the neighbor had a vegetable garden in the lot behind him. We had a dense wooded patch that me and my friends made use of. :snicker:

The difference between us and these people: we knew that street was eventually going to be developed. We didn't have the nerve to use the property for free for all those years, and then try to claim some sort of "squatter's rights" when the owner decided to make use of it.

That's what these people (and their allies on this thread) are advocating: "squatters rights". There's no such thing in a society that respects private property.

-Eric

[ladyjane]

They could have formed an organization to buy the lake at any time.

A friend of mine is a developer. In his most recent development he had some tennis courts that were to be taken over by the owners when half the houses were sold. For the past 5 years he has been paying the taxes and insurance on the tennis courts and trying without success to get the homeowners to take over the responsibility. They've been using them for the past 7 years. They refused to do it. It's not money since these are 700K houses with 3 car garages. They want him to run their tennis club for free - forever. As said earlier, nothing like freeloaders when the handouts stop. Oh yes, they complain when they need to be maintained.