WHY IS ROYAL GORGE LLC SO AFRAID OF EMINENT DOMAIN?

First off, here's a quick definition of eminent domain, courtesy of Nolo Press, folks I can't recommend highly enough:

The power of the federal or state government to take private property for a public purpose, even if the property owner objects. The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution allows the government to take private property if the taking is for a public use and the owner is "justly compensated" (usually, paid fair market value) for his or her loss. A public use is virtually anything that is sanctioned by a federal or state legislative body, but such uses may include roads, parks, reservoirs, schools, hospitals or other public buildings. Sometimes called condemnation, taking or expropriation. 

Those of you who follow happenings at Sierra Lakes County Water District (SLCWD) know the topic of eminent domain has been percolating around for quite some time. SLCWD has the rights to the water in Serene Lakes, but because of the history of the development, not all of it blithe and carefree (ugly wrangles and brangles that ended up in court, even), SLCWD did not acquire the actual receptacle, i.e. lake bottom and shore that holds the water they control. Apparently at one point some years ago, SLCWD's directors passed up the opportunity to purchase the lake bottom and shores lock, stock, and barrel, apparently relying on the good intentions of the then owner. Bad choice.

As things stand today, SLCWD has to use easements from the current owner, Royal Gorge LLC*, to perform day to day operations involving the lake and the dam. Much of the shoreline ringing the lake belongs to Royal Gorge LLC, so SLCWD is not able to manage it in a way that protects water quality. Working under the constraints of easements is, shall we say, less than ideal for SLCWD, because Royal Gorge LLC, or any subsequent purchaser, should there be one, can impede at will actions SLCWD might deem necessary, such as stopping a homeowner from cutting down all the trees in the greenbelt, for example, or passing ordinances to maintain the water level so as to protect the greenbelt, which is our lakes' big filter.

Acquiring the lake bottom through condemnation should be prudent, easy, and very inexpensive...unless.....

Let's take the prudent as a given, to enable SLCWD to act to protect the water supply without having to ask "mother may I" to Royal Gorge LLC every time they need to do something.  Condemnation through eminent domain should be easy because, as per the above definition, acquiring land for a reservoir is not only well within the parameters of "public use", it's even given as an example of  eminent domain. Plain vanilla. It's just horse sense that a water district should own the lake their water is in.

"Just compensation" isn't even that tough of an issue. Royal Gorge LLC has not been assessed, nor have they ever paid a crooked penny of property tax on the lake bottom parcel. The parcel came with the purchase of Ice Lakes Lodge, kind of riding piggyback. Placer County Tax Assessor considers the land unusable.  Royal Gorge LLC can't build on it, and nobody but a water district would be willing to buy it from them. Calling it "open space", as they did on the plans they submitted a year ago November (time flies when you're having a good time), is patently ludicrous. 

Here's where the "unless" comes in, though. Royal Gorge LLC, in the personage of their employee Mike Livak, is huffing, and puffing, and threatening to blow the eminent domain house down by, you guessed it, piling on the lawyers.

Which leads us to the curious question. Why all this bluff and bluster over a bog standard, plain vanilla eminent domain action? First off, why didn't they sell it at an agreed upon price to SLCWD years ago when they seemed to be negotiating-- what changed their minds? Second, why are they costing all of us so much money in legal fees by throwing, or threatening to throw encrustations of quagga mussels, er lawyers, at SLCWD? 

Are they hoping to get their very own water rights from the State Water Rights Control Board, and then claim they own the lake it's stored in, so we're compelled to purchase our water from them? Do they have a cunning scheme to interest a water privatizer (see articles of interest a few days ago down in Foster/Syme/ Royal Gorge LLC section of strand on Serene Lake's Property Owner's Forum) in trying to take our water system private? Or do they have some other farfetched, concocted by high-priced water lawyers scheme that they can use the lake bottom and sides for that even I can't imagine? 

Or are they just trying to hold our community, and the safety of our water supply hostage to their development plans, in hopes that some how, some way they're going to wear us all out, and let them drain our lakes every year?

This issue isn't about their development-- it's about SLCWD not having to be threatened by lawyers when they're trying to carry out their duties as our water supplier-- trying to protect the cleanliness of our water,  the recreational qualities of our lakes, and the greenbelt that surrounds and protects our lakes.

For all of Royal Gorge LLC's talking of "private property rights", it's impossible for me to see what rational purpose they have for refusing to transfer the lake bottom to SLCWD for an agreed upon fair market value.

*Royal Gorge LLC is owned by San Francisco Bay Area Developers: Kirk Syme, Woodstock Development, and Todd Foster, and Mark Foster, both  affiliated with Foster Enterprises.  Both Syme, and the Fosters also own Rainbow Lodge, aka Rainbow Holding Company LLC.