Monday, November 22, 2010

I am a tree hugger.

My house is surrounded by different varieties, and as those old pin oaks have declined over the years--one of which fell on my house in a storm, I have replaced them with new ones.

I support the PDR program..Purchase of Development Rights, which allows the LFUCG to pay land owners to set aside land so it can be maintained in its natural state. I suspect this program has worked well.

But.

When the PDR was introduced it was, admittedly, a radical concept. It had not been done in Kentucky before, actually in very few states then. Kentucky has a conservative judiciary. I thought then, and I think now, we need a friendly suit to test the PDR program in our courts.

What worries me is that, down the road, some new heir to land his parents set aside 20 years earlier will sue ... knowing if he wins, that land can be sold to developers for mucho dinero. IF they win, what happens? How do we protect the rest? How many more suits will be filed? Are we taxpayers entitled to a rebate on our taxes spent for this now outlawed program? I see many questions raised, and serious ones.

Let's set these possibilities aside, so we may continue the PDR program. Our new city administration should institute a suit to, once and for all, settle this important issue..and I'm seldom in favor of friendly lawsuits..but trees (and preserving our blue grass landscape) are worth it.

I'm just sayin...

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