+1 Local Government. No Eminent Domain for Private Gain. From the North.

Columbia County, Wisconsin Baord of Supervisors voted to support he following statewide eminent domain reform:

  • prohibit private companies from using eminent domain to take property
  • public good should not include economic growth
  • ensure that landowners can negotiate for a fair price.

Are other Wisconsin counties doing the same thing? Yes, at least 6

Portage Daily Register | Columbia County Board favors eminent domain reform

Sawyer County Record | Rusk County passes resolution calling for eminent domain reform

 

Update of Final Version. Anatomy of a Bill that Sped up a Pipeline & Transmission Line Tunnel

As signed by Michigan’s Governor, SB 1197 (2018 | MI) will:

  • Include a plan for recruiting, training, and using Michigan workers for the tunnel project;
  • Allow for multiple utilities to use the tunnel;
  • Provide that the tunnel is built to last and will contain potential oil spills in the Straits of Mackinac;
  • Limit liability for the state, the authority, and members of the authority;
  • Require that all necessary government approvals be obtained for the tunnel;
  • Prohibit the use of eminent domain to acquire property for the project;
  • Ensure the state bears no cost for design, construction, operation and maintenance of the tunnel;
  • Ensure that any privately owned portion of the project – including the above-ground entrances and any utility lines within the tunnel – are subject to taxation; and
  • Reimburse the MBA for any net loss of profit for leasing space for telecommunication lines.

Upmatters | Legislation signed to protect the Great Lakes, provide energy security, create jobs

 

Refreshing our recollection: 

Michigan has a pipeline company that wants to put in a tunnel. There’s people on both sides. How do you solve it?

SB 1197 (2018 | MI) which will:

  • create the The Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority
  • not allow the authority to use eminent domain
  • not allow the authority to be sued
  • will be governed by 3 governor appointees with 6 year terms
  • The MI Governor’s policy statement
    • “protect the Straits of Mackinac and the Great Lakes while ensuring energy stability for Michigan.”

WWMT | Senate passes bill creating new authority to oversee Line 5 utility tunnel

 

Local TREND. Rental Property Inspections = Private Property Rights Violations?

Institute of Justice is representing a class of renters in Seattle to challenge the city’s ordinance that requires inspection of rental property.

The ordinance: Rental Registration and Inspection Ordinance,  Seattle Municipal Code 22.214.

When tenants refused entrance to the inspector a fine of $500 per day until the landlord persuaded the tenant to permit the inspector to inspect the premise.

Institute for Justice | Seattle mandatory rental inspection Law

Eminent Domain and Coastal Barriers. WHAT. WHERE.

What project? A coastal barrier project that will be a 71-mile long system of gates and levees 

Where? Along the Texas Gulf Coast

How does eminent domain come into play? Businesses and residences on Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston Island could be impacted

Who would exercise eminent domain? Texas General Land Office

What do I need to know about TX GLO, eminent domain and the coastal barrier?

  • eminent domain will e a last resort
  • intent is to ” identify an alignment that minimizes and hopefully avoids that [eminent domain] if at all possible”

Timeline? 10-15 years of construction after 2021 federal funding allocation

Houston Chronicle | Proposed coastal barrier will enforce eminent domain as a ‘last resort’ 

 

Local TREND. Anatomy of an Economic Development Plan with Eminent Domain. Who. Where. What.

Who: Amazon Headquarters 2

Where: New York

What: New York City officials and New York State officials pitch to lure Amazon included the use of eminent domain for prime real estate

What specific eminent domain offers were made?

  • “Subject to public approvals, ESD is empowered to acquire, encumber and dispose of any real property interest, including through eminent domain,”
  • ““ESD can also override local zoning, offer tax subsidies while holding title to a property, and provide lower-cost financing or grants to economic development projects.”

Wall Street Journal | New York Touted Real Estate, Eminent Domain in Bid for Amazon

Newsweek | AMAZON NEW YORK DEAL: ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ BLASTS OFFICIALS FOR OFFERING 3 WORLD TRADE, FARLEY POST OFFICE BUILDING

 

Legal TREND. Are Maps and Signs to a Park a Taking if people cross private property?

The City of St. Pete Beach built a new park.

The City then made maps, websites,  physical signs, that suggested to the public that they were free to cross that private property to get to the beach.

The private property owners sued.

These actions- signs, maps and websites suggesting to cross private property are a taking tantamount to eminent domain.

 Chmielewski v. City of St. Pete Beach, 890 F.3d 942 (11thCir. 2018).

Lege TREND: Private Entities Get Regulatory Approval Before Using Eminent Domain?

This is the question at the heart of a lawsuit in Louisiana.

What does state law look like for eminent domain? To use eminent domain, an entity must receive permission from a regulatory agency.

Is this the middle ground between no eminent domain for private entities and no checks on the use of eminent domain by private entities?

Louisiana Record | Eminent domain laws at heart of suit challenging Bayou Bridge Pipeline, law professor says 

3 Policy Issues. Eminent Domain and Wildlife.

The federal government’s Texas border wall illumates 3 eminent domain issues that impoact wildlife. 

The border wall is planned to run through the National Butterfly Center, a reserve for residential and migratory birds and butterflies and the impact to wildlife has been:

  • Access.  Surveyors have left gates open after deaprting the facility
  • Changes to wildlife environment. equipment and stakes impact sanctuary grounds
  • Communication  Communication between the surveyors and the wildlife center can be summed up with  don’t know, talk to  U.S. Customs and Border Protection

 

KRGV | Surveyors Seen on Private Property without Permission 

3 Eminent Domain Cost Drivers for Texas border wall

  • The route does not follow the river, is a straight line and makes 1000s of acres unusable
  • Unwilling Landowner Litigation the route makes it necessary to take more land from 100s of unwilling landowners
  • Religious land taking a historic Catholic mission will set up a lengthy legal fight over the 1st amendment freedom religion rights of the church vs. the government’s 5th amendment aility to use the power of eminent domain

The Monitor | EDITORIAL: Holy war: Government should reconsider planned seizure of church land