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November 16, 2009
Reform eminent domain
The Star-Ledger, Editorial
New Jersey's largest newspaper calls for reform of state eminent domain laws, principally the tightening of the definition of what constitutes blight.
Eight years after a Connecticut town seized land under eminent domain to sweeten a package deal to lure Pfizer, the drug giant has decided to move on, taking 1,400 jobs elsewhere and leaving behind a huge office complex and acres of vacant, weedy lots. New Jersey should take heed and move swiftly to reform its eminent domain laws.
New London, Conn., is the loser in this cautionary tale for other officials who think selling the store to win corporate favor is a good idea.
The town, which gave Pfizer substantial tax breaks, also forcibly took dozens of homes under eminent domain with the promise of building an "urban village" of new homes and stores.
...New Jersey needs to get moving. The state constitution allows local governments to seize private property in areas of "blight," a term loosely applied in recent years, to the great disadvantage of property owners, many of whom have fought back.
Since 2007, state and appellate court rulings have put town officials on notice.
...These rulings ultimately helped Long Branch homeowners this year beat back a plan to raze their beachfront homes for private, higher-priced condominums. But residents who fought the plan also had the broken economy on their side. The downturn made the whole project considerably less appealing to the developer and town leaders, who, in better times, might have continued the court fight. Another group of homeowners might not be so lucky.
NoLandGrab: We probably don't need to remind you that the developer in the Long Branch case was none other than Forest City Ratner. [Ed. note: we confused Long Branch with Bloomfield, NJ, where a judge struck down an eminent domain taking for a proposed Forest City project. We regret the error.] New Jersey's courts have been stepping into the void that the legislature has failed to fill — are you paying attention, New York State Court of Appeals?
Posted by eric at November 16, 2009 11:51 AM