The Mission City has filed an eminent domain lawsuit against
longtime resident and former San Benito County Sheriff Harvey
Nyland.
The Mission City has filed an eminent domain lawsuit against longtime resident and former San Benito County Sheriff Harvey Nyland.
City Manager Jan McClintock said the city needs 1.6 acres of Nyland’s land to build a new reservoir as part of its wastewater infrastructure project. The current reservoir is geologically unstable, McClintock said, and the cash-strapped city can’t build it anywhere except at that selected site “without spending a lot more money reengineering a project that’s going to be more expensive.”
According to court documents, the city offered Nyland $23,500 for his land, but he declined. Attorney John O’Brien has represented Nyland on this issue in the past, and he said his client “just doesn’t want to sell his land.”
“We presented locations to the city council that were probably more desirable,” O’Brien said
Those locations sit at a higher elevation than the selected site – which is south of the intersection of Highway 156 and Monterey Road – and are closer to the center of town, O’Brien said.
But McClintock said the other proposed sites are either too high or too low in elevation. If the reservoir is too high, water pressure could build up in the line, she said. If it’s too low, the city couldn’t transport the water with gravity and would have to build pumps instead.
“Financially, we couldn’t do it anywhere else,” said Councilman Ed Laverone.
O’Brien said he isn’t sure if Nyland will hire him to respond to the lawsuit, filed Thursday.
“It’s up to Mr. Nyland what he wants to do,” O’Brien said.
The attorney noted that the Nyland family has already given a great deal to San Juan Bautista. For example, Harvey Nyland’s father, Arthur Nyland, donated the land for city hall.
“They’ve been very generous to the City of San Juan,” O’Brien said.
Laverone acknowledged that the Nylands are an important part of the community. Laverone recalled how he played in Harvey Nyland’s home as a child.
“Have they done a lot of good for San Juan?” Laverone said. “Yes. But you can’t look at this from a personal standpoint. … Our only job as a city council is to do what’s best for the city.”
San Juan Bautista’s water infrastructure project, which includes the construction of a new water treatment plant, ran into trouble earlier this year when the federal Economic Development Administration canceled a $3.8 million construction grant. McClintock has said the city is appealing that decision and looking for other sources of funding.
“I can’t announce anything yet, but the process is moving,” she said.
