Earlier quoted context omitted.
We need wild areas in the community ? Why? Let the wild be in the wild.
There is less and less wild left over.
It won't be very wild sitting in the midst of a human settlement.
A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Data Center
111–120 of 574 posts
Re: A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Data Center
#112Tangentially related: https://youtu.be/F4SmgrAmdUQ “When nothing belongs to everyone, the rich will own everything, including the rebellions against them,”
Tragedy of the commons, re-framed
Re: A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Data Center
#113There seems to be some missing details from the few sentences in this article. Does anyone have the full story? Why did the court dismiss the families lawsuit?
https://www.kut.org/energy-environment/2025-09-26/taylor-tex... This is closer to the time of the lawsuit and has some more details - they sold it to a trust who then sold it to the city some years later, and the city rezoned it in 2005. It's possible they missed the timing maybe?
This may be a stupid question... do cities need to pay state property tax on properties they own?
Re: A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Data Center
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
So there are two issues: (c) shouldn't be able to sell without the restriction, and (b) knowing of the restriction made decisions in good faith believing it would be followed and hence have been harmed by it not being followed, no? If (b) doesn't have standing, nobody does and deed restrictions are de facto useless.
(a) has to sue and they will prevail. (b) does not have standing.
.. and if A is dead?
Re: A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Data Center
#115Whenever possible, conservation land should go into a conservation trust, not to the city, with a conservation easement. Defense in depth. Local government will do whatever is best at the time with whomever is in charge, conservation trusts will optimize to conserve and protect the land. No shame against this family, they and their gift were taken advantage of by their city and its representatives. You don't know wha…
I have been on the board of directors of a land trust, and this situation is a poster-child for why an existent concern must retain standing to litigate. A lot of what the Land Trust Alliance (LTA) does is ensure things like the legal nuts-and-bolts of conservation stays possible and durable, including conservation easements. CEs can be a lot of work, especially as the legal landscape changes. I think the dismissal o…
> The land trust you work with - are they accredited with LTA?
They are. Great comment, I could not agree more with your thoughts.
Re: A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Data Center
#116Wow they had the condition that the land be used as a park baked into the deed when they sold it to the city for $10, the city sold it, and when the family went to court their suit was dismissed. Now their home is worthless because nobody wants to live next to a data center. When are we going to hold local government officials accountable for bullshit like this? Send them to prison.
Government officials are just revolving villains, send them to prisons and others will pick up right where they left. You have to uproot and get rid of the source: lobbying and moneyed interests.
Re: A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Data Center
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
you dont have standing from indirect harm or costs.
What is the legal precedent for this statement? I am not disagreeing, I just would like to know what the law is.
There isn't a single precedent; standing and jurisdiction are like 70% of civil procedure in law school. This page is a good jumping off point: https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/standing
Re: A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Data Center
#118I oppose deed restrictions. They last forever and who knows what is correct for future generations. This is a jerk move by the city, but that is a different issue.
I could see some kind of legal max duration of a deed restriction, but it seems totally reasonable as long as both parties know the agreement. If I can't write in a deed restriction then I also don't want the government writing easements and land use restrictions.
I consider easements only valid when in use, or 5 years. That is once you build the "thing" you get to keep the easement, but if you stop using that pipe/cable/... you get 5 years to clean it up. If you are planning on building, you get 5 years to complete it, otherwise you have to start over getting another easement.
Re: A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Data Center
#119[flagged]
I've seen a lot of people indicate they think people's predictions for the future with AI are like a psy-op and that none of them really believe it. Isn't it simpler to believe that people like Terrance Tao who have been in good standing with the academic community for a long time are telling the truth? Like you may very well disagree with their predictions based on your lived experience or theories... But it doesn't…
>we can scale this up exponentially
Lost me here. It usually means something will require exponentially more resources, and eventually a finite limit (money, time, raw materials, land, energy, lifespan, speed of light, etc) will be hit.
Re: A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Data Center
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
you dont have standing from indirect harm or costs.
What is the legal precedent for this statement? I am not disagreeing, I just would like to know what the law is.
It would generally be the opposite, what law gives them standing to sue?
My knowledge as a non-lawyer generally agrees with above, most states won’t allow you to sue for neighbors doing something legal that decreases your property value (CA is the exception I’m aware of, and even then it’s a “sometimes” kind of thing).
I’m not even sure who they’d sue. Presuming the land is zoned for a datacenter, the datacenter is allowed to do datacenter things. You could sue the city to try to prevent the zoning, but sovereign immunity would preclude suing them for doing their job (zoning, in this case).