§ 32-2-2 - Acquisition of land for parks.
SECTION 32-2-2
§ 32-2-2 Acquisition of land for parks.– The department of environmental management shall have the power to acquire,maintain, and make available to the inhabitants of the metropolitan parkdistrict, and to the public generally, open spaces for exercise and recreation,and for intercommunication between them and adjacent streets and highways; andto this end, and acting as far as may be in consultation with the respectivecity and town councils and park commissioners of the cities and towns listed in§ 32-2-1, the director of environmental management is hereby authorized totake in fee simple or otherwise, in the name and for the benefit of the state,by purchase, gift, or devise, or by eminent domain in such a manner as may nowor hereafter be provided by the general assembly, lands and interests, estates,and rights therein, for the public use within the metropolitan park district,and to enter into written contracts for the conveyance thereof to thedepartment, for those purposes and uses, and further, to improve, preserve,care for, and administer those public reservations, and also, in the discretionof the director, and upon such terms and conditions as he or she may approve,such other lands and interests, estates, and rights therein, or funds in trust,as may be entrusted, given, conveyed, or devised to the department or to thestate by the United States or by cities, towns, corporations, or individualsfor the general purposes of this chapter, or for any one or more of thosepurposes, as the grantor, donor, or devisor may designate; provided, however,that nothing in this chapter shall be construed to limit the existing rights ofany city or town in relation to water supply purposes, or in any way obstructor destroy the privilege of any such city or town to take advantage of thoserights.