[laconic]

I've seen their signs from the highway. Don't we have enough golf courses elsewhere in this country without a CITY using its eminent domain powers to steal the land from a working family farm? This is an astonishing abuse of power and would turn out to be a total waste of good farmland.

[PLK]

This is an astonishing abuse of power and would turn out to be a total waste of good farmland.

I agree with the first part of your sentence, but question the second. In Iowa, the government issues CSR's (crop suitability rating) on all farmland. If a farmer chooses to sell his land to a developer, and his CSR is too high, the government will NOT allow anything other than farming to take place on that land. This, too, is an abuse of power, whatever happened to private property rights?