[snip]
Amanda,
Pardon my bluntness, but this is total baloney. The trade was to involve
land that Dave Plummer already holds an easement on to put a road back to
his property. His interest was in holding the title "free and clear" in
order to dedicate the road to the city for a public road. As it is, it will
be a private road, a driveway. And he can put in that driveway right now.
He owns the right to put it in already.
The land that the City would have traded will have Dave Plummer's road on it
ANYWAY. He holds an easement on that property to put a road on it.
The land that was in question has NO COMMERCIAL VALUE. None. Zero. Zip.
Would you buy a piece of land that had an ironclad easement on it to become
the road to a developer's property? Would you buy your neighbor's driveway?
You can't build on it. You can't farm it. It will be a road no matter
what. Someone in the city is being less than truthful if there is talk of
the parcel with Plummer's easement as being valuable.
Likewise, the floodplain land that was offered by Plummer is not without
value to him. He will fill it in (affecting flood safety, and wildlife
habitat) and build on it. Plus, some of it has value as the required
setback on the north side of his property.
The trade that was offered was a clever, win-win situation. Both parties
traded land of little value for land of higher value. Unfortunately, there
seems to be a cover up of the true financial situation of the Styner Ave
project. Someone wants to keep this property on the income side of the
balance sheet for as long as possible. Of course, the City will NEVER get
much (if any) actual cash for their land, but maybe the truth can be covered
up for a few more years. By then no one will remember or care.
And sadly, all of Moscow will now suffer from this cover up.
Fritz