"But my hope is that we don't have to use eminent domain at all," he said.

"Many projects that use eminent domain are very important for the entire community."

School districts have the power to tax their residents and to use eminent domain.

The town wants to avoid using eminent domain to acquire private property, he said.

City officials say they will use eminent domain only as a last resort.

He is opposed to using eminent domain in this case.

The city assembled the 20-acre site from five properties, using eminent domain in several cases, at a cost of $25.5 million.

One way to approach this problem is for city management to use eminent domain to claim land.

But he said it will use eminent domain if the owner does not want to sell land that is needed.

Officials have said they want to go ahead, even if that means using eminent domain to seize the land.