InfoHive – Eminent Domain

What is happening? Georgia Legislature is considering HB 1150 ( 2022 | GA) that would prohibit a farm from having nuisance complaints for farm work after a year of farming.

Why is this important? Environmentalists and small farms believe the protection is being used to shield bad animal husbandry practices in the meat industry.

How will this be important? It could be important for its harm to long standing private property rights. “What you’re saying is people who have long standing private property rights no longer have any ability to protect themselves from newly arriving animal operations or other types of agricultural operations,” said April Lipscomb of the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Lewistown Sentinal | Georgia right-to-farm bill again a question of whose rights

What is happening? the Virginia Legislature passed legislation to build a new professional sports area for the for the Washington Commanders

Why is this important? The legislation has the following elements:

• Creates the  “football stadium authority” to oversee the construction and financing of a new stadium and retail/entertainment complex
• sell bonds to help fund a $1 billion stadium
• $2 Billion investment from the Commanders to finish out the development
• Allows the commanders to receive revenue in the form of  2% of the sales tax on items sold within the commercial complex
• The Senate wants to give the team provide additional revenue stream where the team would be able to recapture a percentage of the state’s income tax on players and executives
• The House wants the team to pay at least 50% of its stadium naming-rights deal to the authority until the state’s bonds used to fund the stadium are paid off.

How will this be important? There’s stadium competition from D.C. to the current location in MD

4Washington | Virginia State Legislature Passes Bills for Commanders Stadium Project

What’s happening? Washington State was considering requiring local governments to permit zoning for townhomes, duplexes and quadplexes in previously zoned single family residential areas. HB 1782 (2021-2022 | WA)

Why is this important? OR passed a similar bill in 2019. CA did so in 2021 with SB 9 and SB 10. AZ is considering a bill in 2022.

How will this be important? Sate politicians looking to take control away from local elected officials that they find disagreeable….sounds familiar.

Route Fifty | States Lawmakers are Taking On Housing Policy Once Left to Locals

What’s happening? Baltimore and Chicago both have a surplus of abandoned property that is in the city’s possession. Selling these properties has been a challenge.

Why is this important? Chicago has pieces of property for sale at $1 that they can’t get rid of during scavenger sales.

How will this be important? Chicago has mapped the abandoned properties by block with specifications so that potential buyers have easy access to the property stats. Other cities like Flint, Mohave been utilizing land banks for abandoned property. Cleveland, OH and Case Western Reserve Univeristy have also been working on cutting edge database of abandoned property to tackle the challenge.

Route Fifty | How Cities and Counties Are Dumping Abandoned Properties

What’s happening? There’s a proposed carbon pipeline in the midwest. It’s got the attention of Legislatures to see whether the use of eminent domain should be permitted.

Why is this important? Federal authority for pipelines has never extended eminent domain use for a carbon pipeline.

How will this be important? Will states clarify that carbon pipelines can be built within their boundaries with the use of eminent domain?

Reuters | U.S. carbon pipeline proposals trigger backlash over potential land seizures

What’s happening? VA wants to lure a professional football team and build a new stadium. The bill to effectuate this would not allow for the use of eminent domain. HB 1353 (2022 | VA)

Why is this important? news accounts of the taking of BIPOC neighborhoods to build stadiums are being identified by local governments across the country that want to build better relationships with their BIPOC residents.

How will this be important? Let’s watch and see if more development bills exclude eminent domain, which way will the winds blow?

What’s happening? Highlands Lake, Alabama is being challenged for its minimum home size of 1800 square feet.

Why is this important? Property rights activists say the ordinance is unconstitutional & not tied to any governmental purpose.

How will this be important? Other cities are having their minimum home sizes challenged because they prevent affordable housing from being built.

IJ.ORG | Public Interest Law Firm Calls on Highland Lake to End Ban on Small Homes

What is happening? Samsung announced a $17B plant in Williamson County, TX, 34 miles north of Austin. The plant includes $981 million in incentives.

Why is this important? Before construction begins, the land on which the future plant sits is being annexed by the City of Taylor.

How will this be important? Annexation and zoning is inextricably tied to economic development.

The Real Deal | Texas town annexes site of planned $17B Samsung plant

What’s happening? Flipping the script from the usual modus operandi, an oil and gas association in California called the LA ban on drilling an unjust taking of property without compensation.

Why is this important? Other local governmental entities will follow suit as the issue is also linked to health issues in BIPOC communities which are often located near urban oil and gas wells.

How will this be important? Let’s all watch how the issue of compensation is discussed. Goose and Gander and all that.

KXAN (Austin, TX) | Los Angeles City Council approves phaseout of oil drilling

What’s happening? A “first of its kind” research study with data available at Connecticut Zoning Atlas to show what zoning changes mean on a lot by lot basis. This isn’t survey information. The information is the actual impact to lots after zoning rules are enacted.

Why is this important? The impact to multi family housing occurs with public hearings where proposals are more likely to be rejected, minimum parking and maximum building height requirements, and prescriptions regarding lot size, lot coverage or floor-to-area ratio. 

How will this be important? Can data from enacted zoning or building codes in your jurisdiction work to support your cause instead of relying on survey results…

Governing | Ending Single-Family Zoning Is Not a Stand-Alone Solution