Family Water Alliance - Learn more
About Us
Our Issues
Flood Control
Newsroom
You Can Help
Links
Photo Gallery
Contact us
Home
Green Ribbon Reports
Visit the Fish Forum
Green Ribbon Reports

October 2005

Locals Oppose County Land Grab

The Yolo County Board of Supervisors’ attempts to employ the power of eminent domain to seize the 17,300 acre Conaway Ranch is again moving forward. At one point, the County and the Conaway Preservation Group (CPG), the owners of the property who do not wish to sell, called for a cease fire of the legal proceedings set to occur on August 23rd to allow them time to see if a negotiated settlement could be reached. At this time, it is reported that negotiations were unsuccessful, and that the County is currently again moving forward with its efforts to strip the CPG of their ownership rights in the Ranch, an action that the CPG is actively opposing, regardless of the fact that ownership is not necessary to achieve their stated goal of merely preserving the status quo.


Assemblyman LaMalfa addresses the crowd of landowners and press representatives at the Conaway Ranch press conference.

As reported in the last edition of the Green Ribbon Report, State Senator Tom McClintock and Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa introduced legislation to amend the California Constitution. Entitled “The Homeowner and Property Protection Act,” the legislation seeks to remedy the abuse of eminent domain that was upheld in the landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Kelo v. City of New London case, which held that government agencies can seize private property and give it to another private entity for the purpose of increasing governmental revenue. This decision is a direct affront to private property rights.

On September 1st, in cooperation with the Family Water Alliance (FWA), the Yolo County Taxpayers Association (YCTA), the newly established California Alliance to Protect Private Property Rights (CAPPPR), and the CPG, LaMalfa and McClintock held a press conference next to a rice field on the Conaway Ranch to discuss their legislation and the need to reform both national and state eminent domain laws to protect California farmland and communities. It was a fitting location for the ceremony due to the recent attention the Conaway Ranch has received since the County initiated eminent domain proceedings and after the Kelo decision.

"Protect Conaway Ranch" signs have been posted throughout Yolo County by FWA & other opponents of the County's eminent domain action.

Speakers included Marc Brekenridge, a Yolo County farmer and a founder of the CAPPPR; Dudley Holman, President of the YCTA and also a founder of the CAPPPR, Jeffrey Sutton, Executive Director of FWA, and Senator McClintock and Assemblyman LaMalfa.

Senator McClintock stated that the fundamental right for residents to be secure in their homes and businesses has been placed in imminent peril. In regard to the Conaway Ranch, Senator McClintock stated, “If they can seize this property, they can seize yours or mine as well. This is between right and wrong.”

Assemblyman LaMalfa, one of the few farmers elected to serve in the State Legislature, stated: “We must not allow this abuse to happen here.” He discussed the excellent stewardship of the Conaway Ranch by the CPG, and explained that eminent domain “allows the government all too frequently to take private property with little or no legitimate public use justification.”

While “The Homeowner and Property Protection Act” that was promoted at the press conference by McClintock and LaMalfa failed to even make out committee hearings due to opposition in the Legislature, the legislators made it known that they will not be sidetracked, and plan to follow up by sending the matter to the voters as an initiative on the June 2006 ballot. Family Water Alliance wishes them success in their endeavor to promote public policy that will assure that the citizens of California can be secure in the ownership of their homes, farms, water rights, and all private property.

 

Home | Top