ESCONDIDO -- The City Council has rejected a San Diego family's plea to buy back land the city purchased as part of an eminent domain process nearly a decade ago.

Jane Redding, 57, had requested the city abandon plans to sell the land her family once owned to a private developer. Redding said the family wanted to replant the dusty slope and build a house for her 94-year-old mother, Helen, who lives in Point Loma.

"They made a bad investment, as they never should have bought the land and they never did anything with it," a tearful Jane Redding said Thursday, one day after the council considered her request in closed session. "The fact they cut off negotiations is immoral."

Escondido bought the 10-acre site at the end of Puebla Street for $345,000 in 1995 as part of a proposed water reclamation project. The project was later abandoned, and the city had planned to sell the property for $745,000 to Clifton C. Morgan Construction, Inc., before the Reddings contacted Escondido officials last month.

Earlier this month, the city agreed to sell the land back to the Reddings for $596,000, a price that includes 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 countered with their own offer, agreeing to pay $358,000 to cover the original purchase price and taxes, but balking at the idea of paying lost interest.

A letter City Attorney Jeffrey Epp sent to Jane Redding, who lives in Nebraska, said that accepting the Redding's offer "would not be a fiscally prudent action with taxpayer dollars," especially considering it had a considerably higher offer in hand.

The council will vote on the sale of the property to Morgan at its March 22 meeting.

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