Opinion > Editorials
City's proposed takeover of private property troubling
We were more than a little troubled by city council's passing a pre-annexation agreement that may allow 115 acres west of Benson owned by San Pedro Partners LLC and Harlan Trust to become part of the city.
Forty-three of those 115 acres are critical to San Pedro Partners as the site of a sewer system for a proposed development. We don't have a problem with annexing property into the city, especially when property owners want it. But in this case, the problem is that the private property rights of one Matthew McDonald are taking a beating.
McDonald has 10 acres surrounded by the land that may be annexed. He does not want to sell to San Pedro Partners, who have already tried to buy his land, nor does he want to be part of the city of Benson. But if an actual annexation agreement follows this pre-agreement, that is exactly what will happen.
We don't understand why McDonald should pay the price of San Pedro Partners' failing to do their homework.
This whole mess started after San Pedro bought 305 acres to develop. How they are going to develop it remains something of a mystery.
Details were in short supply at last week's City Council meeting. The original 305 acres were annexed into the city.
Having purchased the property, San Pedro Partners subsequently was told by an engineer that they could not build a sewer system to serve the 305 acres because of uphill slopes. That is the sort of basic information we would assume a developer would have before purchasing land. Nevertheless, San Pedro purchased another 43 acres in the county for the sewer plant.
But they needed to get that land into the city of Benson as well.
In order to do that, they had to get 50 percent of the property owners around them to agree to annexation. Harlan Trust and Mahlon MacKenzie agreed. McDonald did not. But with the 50 percent in agreement, the city can exercise its right of eminent domain.
McDonald correctly points out that if he suddenly finds himself in the city, he will be under a whole new set of more restrictive codes with higher taxes and little benefit to him.
The other annoying thing about this pre-annexation is this is the second time this year that San Pedro Partners has tried to get the city to exercise eminent domain.
In January, they wanted the city to take over part of the McEnery property near Gas City because they were having trouble with access to the property. Another issue you might assume they had investigated before purchase.
We are all for progress and development, but not at the expense of residents who have been here for years, and not because a developer failed to get all his ducks in a row. We hope when actual annexation comes before the city, they ask a lot more questions and have more consideration for the little guy. At the very least, we hope McDonald can be grandfathered in without having to conform to the more restrictive city codes.
Forty-three of those 115 acres are critical to San Pedro Partners as the site of a sewer system for a proposed development. We don't have a problem with annexing property into the city, especially when property owners want it. But in this case, the problem is that the private property rights of one Matthew McDonald are taking a beating.
McDonald has 10 acres surrounded by the land that may be annexed. He does not want to sell to San Pedro Partners, who have already tried to buy his land, nor does he want to be part of the city of Benson. But if an actual annexation agreement follows this pre-agreement, that is exactly what will happen.
We don't understand why McDonald should pay the price of San Pedro Partners' failing to do their homework.
This whole mess started after San Pedro bought 305 acres to develop. How they are going to develop it remains something of a mystery.
Details were in short supply at last week's City Council meeting. The original 305 acres were annexed into the city.
Having purchased the property, San Pedro Partners subsequently was told by an engineer that they could not build a sewer system to serve the 305 acres because of uphill slopes. That is the sort of basic information we would assume a developer would have before purchasing land. Nevertheless, San Pedro purchased another 43 acres in the county for the sewer plant.
But they needed to get that land into the city of Benson as well.
In order to do that, they had to get 50 percent of the property owners around them to agree to annexation. Harlan Trust and Mahlon MacKenzie agreed. McDonald did not. But with the 50 percent in agreement, the city can exercise its right of eminent domain.
McDonald correctly points out that if he suddenly finds himself in the city, he will be under a whole new set of more restrictive codes with higher taxes and little benefit to him.
The other annoying thing about this pre-annexation is this is the second time this year that San Pedro Partners has tried to get the city to exercise eminent domain.
In January, they wanted the city to take over part of the McEnery property near Gas City because they were having trouble with access to the property. Another issue you might assume they had investigated before purchase.
We are all for progress and development, but not at the expense of residents who have been here for years, and not because a developer failed to get all his ducks in a row. We hope when actual annexation comes before the city, they ask a lot more questions and have more consideration for the little guy. At the very least, we hope McDonald can be grandfathered in without having to conform to the more restrictive city codes.
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