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On The Money: Where Do Children Play At Lincoln Crossing?

Residents of one northern California city say they've been paying thousands of dollars for city parks that have never been built. So they contacted On The Money for answers – they want to know, where can their children play?

In the Placer County community of Lincoln, residents can hear the sounds of spring – baseballs smacking against leather mitts in the park. That's what residents of the Lincoln Crossing subdivision thought they'd be getting in their neighborhoods, after spending roughly $4,000 a year in development impact fees.

But instead, they are seeing a lot of weeds in front of school sites and parks that have never been built.

"So as you can see right here, we're looking at open field," said Debi Bidelman. The Lincoln Crossing resident added, "So there's no park here. There's no school here. And we paid for it."

The empty fields, residents say, are part of a pattern of empty promises.

"We're just day after day seeing empty parks without explanations," said Lori Frey, a Lincoln Crossing resident who contacted On The Money.

Many Lincoln Crossing residents are upset with the developers – and with City Hall.

"The city of Lincoln decided to allocate our funds to another area of Lincoln," resident Dori Akin said. "And I think that's a huge issue for all of us because we have lost neighbors."

"We lost three neighbors because there's no school and no park here. So they left," noted Joe Delorio, another Lincoln Crossing resident.

Lincoln Crossing residents have created their own Facebook page to get their message out.

So what happened to the impact fees these folks all paid for?

"The impact fees that are paid into the city are citywide," said Spencer Short, the mayor of Lincoln.

Short told us the fees collected by the city are not necessarily reserved for neighborhood parks but may go towards regional parks that could be farther away.

But Lincoln Crossing resident Marilyn Clarey isn't happy with the lack of parks near her home.

"If we want to walk to one it's going to be a 25-, 30-minute walk to get to a park," she told CBS13.

That wasn't what she bargained for.

"I was hoping for a 30-second walk," Clarey added.

The city of Lincoln has in fact built six parks, but four others are just empty lots – in part because new schools that were supposed to be developed with those parks have not been built after the a collapse in the housing market.

"Many of the developers made promises that were not accurate," the mayor said.

Short blames the developers for overpromising and underdelivering. But where are they now?

"Most of the developers are gone," he said. "They've been absorbed or gone away."

The mayor says he's committed to building the parks when extra money becomes available – and the residents of Lincoln Crossing say they'll demand nothing less. They want a place for their children to play.

"We just want what's rightfully ours. That's all," Lincoln Crossing resident Stephen Ferrell said.

The city of Lincoln is now looking for new revenue sources, including a possible cell phone tower, to help build the four extra parks.

As for additional schools, the West Placer Unified School District told CBS13 the construction of a new middle school was not cost-effective or feasible at this time for Lincoln Crossing.

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