So, in this particular sale a written offer was not made in time, but it would have been for $30,000 and would’ve taken what sold for $160,000 off the tax rolls.  Today that 30 acres has two homes, a farm, and the Lake Auburn Community Center, generating $26,000 a year in tax revenue for the city of Auburn.

The center land was donated to a 501(c)(3) which has been building and maintaining trails and protecting them by perpetual easement since 2007. The water district would have done none of that, thinking those two homes (more than a half mile from the lake) and the recreational facilities might actually pollute Lake Auburn?

As part of the AWD land scheme was a method of the superintendent regulating the same parcels, all while trying to buy them at 25 cents on the dollar in order to carry out a very invasive logging operation.

Do we need to be reminded what those systematic AWD letters look like?

First, the realtor/property owner offers the land to the AWD. Second, the AWD speculates that the property is unbuildable and asks for a septic soil test. Third, the homeowner gets the report that it doesn’t meet the “land grab” ordinance. Fourth, the property owner asks for a city value tax adjustment, which back then was denied.

Fifth, the LAWPC — which is facing a conflict of interest complaint filed with the State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers in August last year and has yet to provide requested documents — offers a lowball price that most property owners shamefully accepted.

Dan Bilodeau, Auburn