By Teri Harber - Lincoln News Messenger
The Lincoln City Council on Tuesday evening unanimously approved the condemnation of property owned by Donald and Carol Barringer through the process of eminent domain.
The Barringers have been vigorously resisting the city’s attempts to obtain ownership of the property since 1998. They own almost 9 acres of undeveloped property at the southeast corner of Sterling Parkway and Highway 65. They earlier rejected a high offer of $1.1 million for the entire site and other lesser offers for small sections running through the larger piece of land.
Most recently, a Superior Court judge awarded the Barringers approximately $60,000 in court costs after the first attempt by the city to condemn the property was dismissed, according to city staff.
Both decisions are being appealed by the city.
The city now would like to have control of the four swaths of land – totaling roughly 1.3 acres – that run through the property for easements, roadway and other needs within the “Revised Twelve Bridges Specific Plan.”
Sun City Lincoln Hills is part of the Specific Plan area that receives utilities delivered from sources going through the small pieces of Barringer land: gas, electric, telephone and cable television.
Del Webb California Corp. eventually plans for 5,300 dwellings and an array of other retail, service and recreation buildings within its mixed use active living senior community. Placer Holdings Inc. will create more than 4,700 homes and various other buildings in this mixed use project, according to previous reports.
“We’ve already wasted two years,” said Daniel Martinez, attorney with the Lincoln law firm Martinez and Kaminski. He is representing the Barringers and addressed the council before they made their decision.
“This is not a solution…The court has agreed with my position. The answer is to sit down and do good faith negotiations,” Martinez also said to the board.
Donald Barringer had no comment about this latest turn of events.
In other council business, some opponents to the proposed Indian Casino at Industrial Boulevard and Athens Avenue used the public comment portion of the meeting to ask that the council not drop the casino topic all together.
Lincoln resident Scott Steward brought a six-page resolution that would restate and expand on the council’s objections to the casino being built. It was drafted by J. Scott Smith of the Sacramento-based law firm Angelo, Kilday and Kilduff.
Las month, council members narrowly approved a draft Memorandum of Understanding between the city and the United Auburn Indian Community for the city to provide the casino with wastewater treatment service and mutual aid assistance. The latter would come into play when the casino needed additional police, fire or paramedic help. The county will be the main provider of emergency services to a casino in that area, if it is built.
Last September, the council rejected a sewer service MOU with the tribe.
Then Roseville resident Janine Lendl wondered why a letter addressing the potential environmental impacts a casino would have on Lincoln hadn’t been sent to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. These letters are due at the area BIA office by Thursday, September 21.
The council members mulled whether it would have been appropriate for the staff to have gone ahead with a draft letter without the council’s approval. Staff members have discussed it, but haven’t done it yet, said City Manager Bill Malinen.
Council member Tom Cosgrove, for example, thought that the letter should have been done automatically by staff because they did so with the Teichert Project. Mayor Don Noyes, however, thought that the council not stating that they wanted a letter written about it, prompted staff to assume that the council didn’t want to address the controversial casino matter now. Council members didn’t take any formal action on either casino-related suggestion, but asked the staff to write a letter to the BIA about potential environmental impacts.
Council members also heard a presentation about wastewater developments. This included discussion about how other communities in the region might look to Lincoln for wastewater treatment service, and how that could help the area wastewater Join Powers Authority obtain grant money for the city’s planned treatment plant.
Finally, the council approved of allocating money to Mercy Housing California so that it will assist the city in its attempt for a $500,000 Economic Development Block Grant. It would be money for making some repairs to the Historic Jansen-Butterfield Building, 490 G St.
Copyright © 2000 Lincoln News Messenger
