ESCONDIDO --- A family fighting to buy land it sold to the city under threat of eminent domain has gained a high-profile booster for their cause: county Supervisor Pam Slater-Price.

The supervisor, whose district includes Escondido, sent a letter this week addressed to Mayor Lori Pfeiler urging the Escondido City Council to accept the bare minimum the family has offered on a 10-acre site at the end of Puebla Street.

As part of a planned water reclamation project, Escondido purchased property for $345,000 from the Redding family in 1995, after the council had taken the first steps toward seizing the property through eminent domain.

But the water project never came to fruition, and the city recently made plans to sell the property for $745,000 to Clifton C. Morgan Construction Inc.

Given that the land was not used for its intended purpose, "the public expects the land to be returned, not sold for a 100 percent profit -- and I agree," reads Slater-Price's letter, which was dated Monday.

While stating that the proposed sale was entirely within the purview of the city, she urged the council to resell the land to the Redding family "because this financial decision will reflect on all governments."

The Reddings have vigorously tried to buy back the land since learning of the impending sale, however, negotiations with the city had imploded over price.

Initially, the city agreed to sell the land back to the Reddings for $596,000, which included the original purchase value, $13,500 in property taxes the city has paid and $238,000 to compensate for lost interest returns had the money been placed in Escondido's investment portfolio.

The Reddings responded, saying they were willing to pay $358,000 to cover the original purchase price and taxes, but no lost interest. Last week, however, the family agreed to the city's asking price of $596,000 after the council made it clear it was poised to sell the property to Morgan.

Slater-Price said Wednesday that she felt compelled to write the mayor out of a sense that selling the land to the higher bidder or demanding interest payment from the family would amount to an "ill-gotten gain."

"I really believe (the council) would go much further toward doing the right thing (in accepting the initial offer)," she said. "And I don't believe taxpayers are so concerned about a $200,000 so-called loss to the city treasury as they are to their council demonstrating integrity.

"What they should be doing is selling (the land) to the people with a letter of apology," Slater-Price said.

Pfeiler said she had received Slater-Price's letter, but that the supervisor's opinion "doesn't necessarily influence" the council as it tries to figure out the best thing to do.

"(This decision) is very serious," Pfeiler said. "How do you do you protect the public's resources and recognize that somebody has a very emotional attachment to a piece of property?"

Councilwoman Marie Waldron, on the other hand, said she supports selling the land back to the Reddings at the proposed price of $358,000, and fully agrees with Slater-Price that the city needs to be careful with how it handles eminent domain.

"The threat of eminent domain, to me, is as serious as doing eminent domain," she said.

It could actually be worse, she said, pointing out that the family has maintained it ended up having to pay nearly $155,250 of the sale price in capital gains taxes. Under federal law, property owners are exempt from paying such taxes if their land is seized by a government entity.

"By the city not following through (with eminent domain), we actually cost them money," Waldron said.

Ann Redding, 64, of Los Angeles, said she was happy to receive the supervisor's support, and said that the $358,000 was "the right price."

Redding added that she felt the city had "bungled" the entire deal from the beginning, when it agreed to sell the land to Morgan Construction without contacting her family.

The council is expected to consider whether to sell the property to the construction company Wednesday.

Last week, Diane Morgan of Morgan Construction, said in a statement that her company's interaction with the Escondido council had "set binding expectations that the city intends to sell the land to us."

Contact staff writer David Fried at (760) 740-5416 or dfried@nctimes.com.