Land Development

Land Development

By Armaan J. Smith

A home purchase is one of the most important purchases you will ever make in life. Buying a house takes a lot of work and commitment. After buying a house a lot of time is spent fixing it up the way you want it, making repairs and paying for it. Most people who buy a house raise families and plan to stay in their house until they die and pass it on to family. No homeowner buys a house and thinks that their dreams and hard work will be practically stolen from them because of Real Estate development in their neighborhood. Land developers have been killing families’ hopes and dreams for years without giving a second thought about the people who are affected by their decisions. Adding business real estate property is good for the economy and businesses that are growing. New developments generate money for the businesses and developers, but what do the families in the neighborhood get for giving up their property for land developments. ?

In my hometown a development group called Miller-Valentine decided to build Cincinnati’s first outdoor mall in Norwood Ohio. The mall has a lot of nice restaurants, clothing stores, shoe stores, and other businesses. The mall is called Rookwood Commons, and my family and I shop there a lot. The only bad thing is remembering all of the houses that were torn down to build the mall. My mom told me about seeing people on the news crying because they didn’t have a choice whether to leave there home or stay. The families had to accept the money they were offered to move, and leave there homes. One lady tried to fight to keep her home; she was the last person to give up her house for the developers. Mrs. Horney was not willing to give up the home she lived in for over fifty years, so she filed a lawsuit. The homeowner’s son is a lawyer and he filed a suit against the city of Norwood for his mother. In 2006 The Supreme Court ruled on the cases of several homeowners who would lose...