The city of Seal Beach will not use eminent domain, a legal process to compel the sale of land to a government agency, to obtain property on Ironwood Avenue.
District 4 Councilman said so in a simple, declarative sentence during the Monday, July 11 City Council meeting.
The issue came up during the public comment segment of the meeting when Ironwood Avenue resident Doug Freeland said he read in the Sun Newspaper that he and his wife could lose their homes because of a city storm drain project.
He was apparently referring to the Thursday, July 7 article, “Seal Beach may buy an Ironwood Avenue property.”
The article reported on a June 27 City Council to look into purchasing property on Ironwood Avenue in order to reduce the cost of a planned storm drain project.
A staff report said the cost of the storm drain project without purchasing a property would be $8.2 million.
The cost of the project after buying a property: $1 million.
The staff report said there were undersized storm drain lines between private homes across Lampson Avenue to the Old Ranch Golf Course.
The report said it would be difficult to improve the storm drains because they were close to the foundations of local homes.
“I would just bite the bullet and say let it flood,” Freeland said. He said that the area floods, but that water had never gotten into one of the houses.
On July 11, District 4 Councilman Gary Miller said the city would not use eminent domain to acquire property.
He said staff was going to see if a house would be available for sale to the city.
He said staff would meet with everyone on Ironwood.
