Laguna Property Owners Embroiled in Tussle With City Over Parts of the Boise River Greenbelt

The Boise greenbelt counts among the most important pieces of Idaho real estate, not only to the City of Boise, but also to the City of Eagle. At the moment, access to the bike path has become a bone of contention between some Laguna Pointe homeowners and city officials in Eagle.

What’s at Stake for the Laguna Pointe Property Owners? And for the City of Eagle?

The issue is with three Laguna Pointe owners, who have property right on the Boise River and which the city would like use of to create a public access way to the Eagle section of the Boise greenbelt. The section of Eagle, Idaho real estate in question is an acre and a half stretch of Laguna Pointe property. It exists on the south side of the neighborhood and would be an East-West route for hikers, cyclists and other greenbelt users, according to the Idaho Statesman.

Because the city and the owners of the three Eagle, Idaho properties can’t come to an agreement as to the use of the land, the city will start eminent domain proceedings against the property owners, which the Statesman cites as Jade Development, LLC, Laguna Pointe Homeowners Association and Premier Industrial LLC. The lawsuit will go to 4th District Court.

The City of Eagle is hoping to access 64K square feet of land, although city officials have stated that gaining access to the land in this manner was not the way they were hoping to go. There is a trail currently, but it’s on private property, causing the friction between the Laguna Pointe property owners and the city.

Why the Challenges for This Section of the Boise Greenbelt

For those not 100% certain about what eminent domain is, Wikipedia defines it as an entity’s power to take “private property for public use by a state or national government.”

The issue for the homeowners, aside from the path cutting through land that is private property, is that they don’t want the path to be paved and they would also like the trajectory of the path to move away from the homes along the Boise River and closer to the river itself.

Additionally, in a story last year on Fox News about the issue, Laguna Pointe property owners expressed that there were issues of privacy not only for their homes, but the 43-acre private lake that sits at the heart of Laguna Pointe Subdivision.

See more of the Fox News story about Laguna Pointe in Eagle, Idaho and about the greenbelt issue by watching the news video below:

Information not guaranteed.

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