City to Use Eminent Domain to 'Get the Dirt' for Sports Park

Within months, the last bit of land needed to build the Lake Forest sports park will be owned by the city.

A unanimous vote Tuesday night by the City Council begins eminent domain proceedings, which allow the city to essentially force the sale of land when its purchase is deemed in the public interest.

The land in question is a 13-acre parcel known as the Rados Property. It is sandwiched between 58.6 acres acquired from the county and a 15-acre parcel purchased from developer Baker Ranch Properties.

Extensive studies pinpointed the area as the "optimal location" for a major sports park facility in Lake Forest, City Manager Robert Dunek said at Tuesday night's meeting.

At the moment, the city's primary sports park is Heroes Park, which the county also uses as a flood control basin. Because of that, it "hasn't met the needs of the community" for recreational space, he said.

The "significant shortfall" of open space has limited even traditional sports from getting enough field space, Dunek said.

"We do believe that the public benefit from this project is significant," he said.

The members of the council each spoke in favor of forcing the sale of the land, which the city has attempted to acquire through years of informal negotiations and one formal purchase offer.

"I think the public interest is pretty clear," Mayor Peter Herzog said. "The time is now."

Herzog said he has "no doubt" that eminent domain is the way to go, pointing to its successful use in the widening of El Toro Road.

"It's a good model that you see on El Toro Road and I'm sure one that will work in this situation as well," he said.

Dunek emphasized the importance of timing in the city's decisions about the future sports park.

"Timing is becoming very critical for the city in order to meet the timing that I think the community expects as well as what the council has laid out," he said.

The completion of the sports park, currently slated for 2013, could face delays of a year or more if the land isn't acquired soon, he said.

City Councilwoman Marcia Rudolph said the city is nearly built out, leaving minimal land available for the city for its infrastructure projects.

"The basic land that we have left to do something like this with is what we're doing it with," Rudolph said. 

Her "yes" vote, she said, is an extension of her mantra since the project's initiation: "get the dirt."

That "last little piece of the dirt," as she called the Rados Property, will allow Lake Forest residents access to the sport park's amenities.

Councilman Scott Voigts, after first expressing his approval of the project as a whole, asked the council to table the vote for a month to allow owner Alex Rados time to get his own appraisal. The city's formal offer for the property was based on an appraisal, but it was not conducted by Rados.

However, the motion failed without support from other members of the council.

Councilman Mark Tettemer, an employee of Irvine Ranch Water District, recused himself from the discussion and vote about the property due to the potential perception of a financial interest in the city's capital projects.

Once the eminent domain process is complete, grading the land could begin as early as spring 2012, Dunek said.

No members of the public—or representatives for the property owner—spoke at the hearing.