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January 12, 2009
Eminent Domain Is Density
Noticing New York
Michael D. D. White makes a point that has so far been overlooked in the conversation about the use of eminent domain for property transfer from one private owner to another in an urban environment... it inevitably leads to greater density and all of the attendant issues.
It does not seem to be an accident that density and the use of eminent domain coincide in the following examples of recent and proposed NYC development:
- The Bank of America Tower, the second tallest building in New York (6th Avenue and West 42nd Street. Year of completion 2009)
The New York Times Tower, which is tied with Chrysler Building for third place as the third tallest building in New York (8th Avenue between West 41st Street and 40th Street. Year of completion 2007)
The proposed 22-acre Atlantic Yards megadevelopment which, calculated on a per square mile basis, would be twice as dense as the densest census tract in the country. (Though the 22 contiguous acres of the megadevelopment should certainly be considered as a whole, the 22 acres do not constitute a single census tract since the span of acreage spans partakes in four different districts. See: Ratner Will Bring Us Closer Together, by Matthew Schuerman in the Observer, October 5, 2006. The project area unto itself is substantial: Though the project design involves discredited superblocking, its footprint could readily constitute 10 city blocks if it were better laid out.)
...Eminent domain is being used as the tool to shoehorn in density that would not be achievable under normal circumstances. The fact that these three examples are current era projects separated by only a few years bespeaks something of the new proclivity to use eminent domain to force private owners to transfer their property to other private owners. Often the transfers being forced involve the new, after-transfer owners making similar or identical use of the land as the original owners even though the original owners’ actual buildings might be torn down.
Posted by lumi at January 12, 2009 5:00 AM