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December 16, 2005

Court To Rule on Property Rights

State’s Eminent Domain Power May Balloon

The NY Sun
by Julia Levy

A case in Soho is scheduled to be heard on Feb 7 by the NY State Court of Appeals, that will decide whether nor not the City can condemn more property than is strictly needed for a project.

Issues of "just compensation" and the definition of "public use" (i.e. economic development and blight) are not in question here.

The State Court will decide whether or not to uphold a lower court ruling that gave NYC the green light to condemn all "12,500 [square] feet of a property when [the City] has indicated that the project will occupy only about 4,000 square feet."

The project in question is a vertical water shaft, part of the City's ongoing "Third Water Tunnel" project.

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Posted by lumi at December 16, 2005 9:38 AM