No Land Grab

Similar Property Disputes Around The Nation

By KATE MORAN
Day Staff Writer, New London
Published on 2/13/2005

The Kelo v. New London case headed to the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 22 could give state and municipal governments the express authority to use eminent domain — the seizure of private property — as a tool for economic development. For half a century, cities have already been using eminent domain to clear away blighted or aging neighborhoods to usher in development that will improve the streetscape and generate higher tax revenue. Here's a look at what's happening around the country:

Ventnor City, N.J., a town of 13,000 in the shadow of Atlantic City, is preparing to condemn a neighborhood that town officials say has become noisy and congested. The area includes nail salons, dry cleaners, a florist, card shop and convenience store, as well as numerous rental properties that officials blame as the source of the noise and parking crunch. The town sees a cure to the problems in the proposal for 375 condominiums and townhouses and 55,000 square feet of retail space floated by two private companies, Pulte Homes and the Alliance Co. The Hispanic Alliance of Atlantic County, which filed an amicus brief in the Kelo case, has filed a civil rights lawsuit accusing the town of trying to clear Latinos and other minorities out of Ventnor. Forty percent of the town's 2,200 Latinos live in the area slated for redevelopment.

A legal fight started brewing in January when the city of Tempe, Ariz., condemned 20 small businesses now operating on the site of a former landfill. The city intends to turn the property over to developers who have promised to clean up the landfill and then build a $200 million shopping center complete with movie screens and big-box retailers. Opinion is divided in this conservative state, where the public wants to see the contamination removed but is deeply ambivalent about the government's intrusion on private property rights. The ideological split got fuzzy in December, when attorney Tom Liddy, a conservative radio talk show host and the former executive director of the Arizona chapter of the Institute for Justice — the libertarian law firm that represents the Fort Trumbull property owners — decided to represent the developers.

Ogden, Utah, is threatening to condemn several homes to make room for a Super Wal-Mart. City planners say the proposal would improve an unattractive neighborhood near the entrance to downtown and generate $700,000 in additional sales tax revenue per year. While most of the 33 residents are pleased they will be able to unload property they have not been able to sell on the open market, others say they want to stay and that the city should help them fix up their blighted property. A local attorney is doing pro bono work for those owners because her grandfather lost his tailor shop to the failed Ogden City Mall in the early 1980s. 

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