Maybe so; then again all of the PDR's I've heard of have the following cast-iron restriction:
-- they would be unable to add any other buildings to their property, or section off some acreage to allow a son to build his own home.
Secondly ... who gets the 'development rights'? There are countless times those 'rights' have been passed around the 'do-gooder' conservation orgs and eventually sold [at a very tidy profit] to a government "for the good of the community".
Eminent Domain, as practiced in this case, is nothing more than legalized theft.
I totally agree. I just wonder if individuals aren't doing enough to fight it themselves. If they had kept their land, and then sought a land patent, they might have been able to do more. This way, they've lost the land altogether.
Of course, once the government has decided to take your property, or your money, or your life, there really is nothing you can do to change that. If the property is real estate, you're sunk, but other kinds property can be hidden, and sometime it is necessary to, "dissappear."
Of course, the real problem is most people just have no idea that once they loose property rights, there really aren't any others. In this country, they are pretty well gone, and very few understand that or care.
Hank