When completed, the .09-acre patch of land nearby the Galleria will be Houston’s smallest park, which is too small for even a basketball court, but Post Oak Lane Park may be big enough for a game of horseshoe, a few benches and greenery.

The Houston Chronicle reports that, “using its power of eminent domain, the city of Houston, seized the land for the park from brothers James and Jock Collins last year. Officials claim there was a public necessity’ for the park in the Uptown area, despite the fact that a much larger one - the 4.7 acre Grady Park - is just two blocks away.”

Some critics of the mayor are asking: What will the new ‘pocket park’ be used for? But that’s difficult to answer. The city has not yet drawn up any plans for the land at the corner of Post Oak Lane and San Felipe. Actually, city parks director Joe Turner testified in a sworn deposition that his department last month did not come up with the idea for the park and that he opposed using condemnation powers for its creation.

In reality, the park will provide a landscaped gateway to an upscale development planned next door, named BLVD Place.

According to the Chronicle, “Mayor Bill White and council members insist they condemned the land last year as a matter of good faith to taxpayers. The city needed some of the land to widen San Felipe and will turn the rest into the park.”

Yet, the Chronicle obtained documents that reveal the move also helped BLVD Place developer Ed Wulfe, a major donor to White, seal the deal on a $12.5 million land sale related to his ambitious mixed-use development.”

A legal battle has ensued after the city started condemnation proceedings, which currently landed at the mayor’s door. White is refusing to obey a deposition request in the case.

The complex case involves a series of land transactions and a network of relationships between elected officials at City Hall and developers that raises questions of whether the city abused its power in taking land it now is hard-pressed to prove that it needed, which was land a developer had been seeking to control.

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