Village Threatens Private Golf Course under Eminent Domain

From Newsday, via Drudge:

NEW YORK -- Lawsuits were filed Tuesday aimed at stopping an affluent suburban village from using the legal concept of eminent domain to take over a privately owned golf course.

"This proposed condemnation may be the most extreme abuse of eminent domain in the country," said John Wilson, a Deepdale Golf Club member named as a plaintiff......Wilson said in a statement that the takeover "has nothing to do with a master plan that promotes the public good or eliminating blight, issues usually behind eminent domain. Rather, it is a naked grab for private property in an apparent effort to satisfy the private desires of a few elected officials."

Mayor Marvin Natiss, who was served with the lawsuits during a telephone interview with The Associated Press, insisted Tuesday that village officials are merely studying the possibility of taking the golf course, part of which borders the Long Island Expressway.

"We haven't started any proceeding," Natiss said, although he conceded that appraisals of the golf course property and environmental impact reviews of a potential takeover are under way. "We're in the information gathering stage."