FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Friends of Plano’s Montessori Children’s House (MCH), a preschool, have prepared a ballot initiative for a new City of Plano Ordinance designed to repeal the current illegitimate Ordinance regarding the taking of private property through eminent domain. The City of Plano has abused its powers by voting to take land from MCH without proper notification to the owner that this vote would take place.

The new Ordinance would protect Plano property owners from government overreach by eliminating loopholes that currently enable the City to essentially take private property from any citizen or business owner for purely recreational purposes.

When used properly, eminent domain is a useful tool for local governments to provide citizens with reasonable and necessary facilities for the common good and assures citizens that property taken will only be used for the highest and best use of the land.

The new Ordinance will still permit the City to take land by eminent domain, but only with the written consent of all owners of the particular property or when no other viable property is available to them. In the MCH case, the owner does not wish to relinquish her property, which is planned for higher and better use than the proposed bike trail AND the City of Plano has other alternatives available to use for this recreational purpose.

For more information or to join in support, please visit the Planoites for Property Rights page on Facebook.