Board votes to put property taxes, green space on ballot

By Dana Maria Arellano
Diversity Institute Fellow

07.27.04

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The Brentwood Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 Monday night to adopt a resolution that will let voters decide whether to raise property taxes and spend as much as $50 million for the purchase and preservation of local green space.

City voters will decide in a special election to be held within 45-60 days whether to go through with the plan to acquire green space. However, critics are concerned about increasing property taxes.

"I love the idea of green space, but I do think it's a bit pricey for the community," said Mayor Anne Dunn who voted to put the measure on the ballot. Others expressed a similar opinion.

"The city is in debt already," said resident Bill Akin, "we do not need any additional taxes."

Commissioner Robert L. Higgs expressed concern about the wording of the resolution, saying that a phrase designating funds for the purpose of "constructing, improving, and equipping…such open land to enhance its use" could allow future commissioners to justify construction of a new ball park or other facilities.

"I'm concerned that what started out as an admirable attempt to buy green space is turning into a pork barrel," he said.

At Higgs' urging, the board revised the resolution to specify that land improvements should leave the property "in a natural state." But in the end, Higgs voted against the amended resolution.

In addition to Mayor Dunn, commissioners Brian J. Sweeney, Joe Reagan and Regina R. Smithson voted in favor of the resolution.

Members of the Citizens for Brentwood Green Space, a non-profit organization, were among those supporting the resolution.

The movement for green space is taking place in communities across the country, said Stephen Prince, a Brentwood resident who helped found the Citizens for Brentwood Green Space. The group began collecting signatures last April to show the commission there was support for green space in the community, he said. In six weeks, Prince and other organizers were able to produce the required 1,500 signatures.

"This is not a communist plot. It's a quest to preserve Brentwood," said Prince.

Fred Caine, another member of the non-profit group, told the commission he moved from Los Angeles to Brentwood last February specifically "for the open space and the schools."

In other business, commissioners approved an ordinance that will re-zone eight acres of private property and preserve an historic home. The commissioners gave owner Dr. Mark Roberts the right to further divide his land in exchange for an easement to Fly House, an historic home on his property.

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