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Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Law - Eminent domain now big business
"Eminent domain now big business" is the headline to a a major story today in the Chicago Tribune. Some quotes:
With the national debate over eminent domain expected to sweep into Springfield in January, municipalities are cautioning against overreacting to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the use of eminent domain for private economic development.But property owners who have been forced to clear out for strip malls or big-box stores hope the public outcry against eminent domain will prompt Illinois lawmakers to act. * * *
Overwhelmingly, the eminent domain cases filed in Cook, Kane, DuPage, Lake, McHenry and Will Counties are for traditional public purposes, such as highways, schools, libraries, police stations--projects that will be owned by the government for the public use.
But a review of court cases filed since 2001 shows local governments have used eminent domain powers in many redevelopment projects where private companies end up in control of the land.
Municipal officials say this is nothing new and the current system should not be changed. Chicago area communities have used eminent domain in this way for decades to dream up new plans, they say.
Recent cases range from Chicago's efforts to remake decaying blocks in Englewood and the stockyards area to St. Charles' attempt to replace businesses along the Fox River with condos and retail.
"When the city is taking land for economic development, it's taking it in terms of advancing the public purpose of eliminating slum and blight," said Steve Holler, chief assistant corporation counsel for the City of Chicago's real estate division. * * *
In Illinois, governments can use eminent domain to force the sale of private property and transfer it to another private owner if the property is found to be blighted or on its way to blight.
The state has a list of 13 factors that prove blight, such as dilapidated buildings, obsolete uses or code violations.
"In the Chicago metro area, I think we can all agree there are properties that truly are blighted," said Thomas Geselbracht, a Chicago attorney specializing in eminent domain. "Sometimes municipalities try to use eminent domain where there's not quite as much agreement as to what's blighted."
Critics say blight definitions are written in a way that allows city councils to use the power of eminent domain by citing issues such as cracked sidewalks, buildings older than 30 years, or the lack of a community plan when a place was built. A building with a poorly planned parking lot does not automatically signal blight to some, which has led to extensive criticism of the law in Illinois and elsewhere.
"Blight removal was meant to take away property that was dilapidated and falling down, with high rates of communicable disease and infested with vermin," said Steven Anderson, coordinator of the Castle Coalition, which has led a national campaign against what critics call eminent domain abuse. "Now it means taking a perfectly fine house that happens to be in a nice location."
Nationally, a band of politically diverse groups, including conservative grass-roots groups, civil rights organizations and farmers, have come together to say the pendulum needs to swing back in favor of property owners.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 3, 2006 08:11 AM
Posted to General Law Related