This NY Sunday Times article (hat tip to Peter Lattman) reports on the efforts of the wealthy Long Island enclave of North Hills’ efforts to use the power of eminent domain — following last year’s controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. New London (related posts here) — to condemn the exclusive (and private) Deepdale Golf Club and turn it into a public golf course for the village.
Inasmuch as Deepdale is one of the best golf courses on Long Island, we’re not talking about a blighted piece of property. Nevertheless, the village mayor’s reasoning for the possible eminent domain action is a truly amazing expression of governmental power:

[Village Mayor Marvin] Natiss has said that a village golf course would be a wonderful amenity for residents. Mr. Lentini once said that making Deepdale a village club would “make North Hills that much more desirable, which would make the properties that much more valuable, which will bring in that many more affluent people.”

Left unsaid is that such transparent reasoning could be used to justify the governmental taking of virtually any property.
At any rate, it appears that a part of the village’s purpose in going after the club property is that Deepdale is so exclusive that only one of North Hills’ 1,800 wealthy residents is a member and, according to Mayor Natiss, “my residents could not get in if they applied” even if they could afford the six-figure initiation fee and annual dues of about ten grand. And, just to make matters more complicated, the land on which the Deepdale course sits is actually owned by a private company that leases the land to the the club at a below-market rate. Inasmuch as at least one of the minority shareholders in the private company wants the private company to sell the land to cash in on his interest, the minority shareholder is supporting the village’s effort to acquire the club.
Let’s hope that this department is not getting any ideas from North Hills’ plans for Deepdale.