Patrick Leahy: “One thing I heard from every mayor and local official about this bill is the fear of battles with large corporate…”

“One thing I heard from every mayor and local official about this bill is the fear of battles with large corporate developers with deep pockets. Instead of waging these battles, most mayors concede they will probably settle the cases and give in to the developers. It will be a field day for land speculators who buy land zoned for, let's say, farming and then sue in Federal court to have the land rezoned for commercial or residential purposes, because now they suddenly change their mind the day after buying it and say they no longer want to be farmers; they just want to make millions as developers. One Senate staffer who works on this issue came across a timely example. He was visiting his boyhood hometown in Cortland County, NY, over the Fourth of July weekend. He told me about a pertinent situation. A farm adjacent to about 25 homes on a small lake, Little York Lake, was recently sold for $2,000 per acre for a total of $65,000. A speculator bought the land which he wants to now sell for $30,000 per acre to make a quick profit of around $1 million. To do that, he has to evade local zoning and health requirements.”