dedication

A gift of land from a private owner to the public, and the subsequent acceptance of the gift by the government on the public's behalf. For example, if a company purchases a number of acres of land for the site of a manufacturing facility, it may wish to dedicate a portion of the land to the public to be used as a park. This dedication could increase the goodwill the company receives from the local population. Because lands given as dedication are the responsibility of the government once accepted, businesses sometimes try to pawn off undesirable land, such as areas prone to flooding, to the government. If the government accepts this type of dedication it will be responsible for dealing with the flooding problem, and therefore the government might reject a dedication if it foresees high maintenance costs.