Educating O’Brien

Mr. O’Brien also needs to understand the intangible cost benefits of open land, in terms or carbon sequestration, ground water sequestration and oxygen production, among others. More intensive land uses, like R4 developments such as Lake Monticello, are contributors to those problems.
Finally, any “well informed decision” requires good data. State tax code requires that all parcels and their improvements be assessed at their fair market value, to include tax exempt properties. Only about half of the Lake’s parcels have been so classified. The rest are valued at zero to include the lake itself. I haven’t taken the time to calculate the value of the 393.8 acre lake bed, the thousands of acre-feet of impounded water and the riparian rights but I think the reader will agree that its isn’t zero.