Cities, landowners pitted after eminent-domain ruling

NEW LONDON, Conn. — When a divided Supreme Court broadened the government's right to seize private property this past week, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor painted a grim portrait of what she saw coming.

She said wealthy investors and city leaders had been given the power to run people from their homes to make way for new development. The line between public and private property has been blurred, O'Connor said in her dissent, and no home is safe.

While municipal leaders say O'Connor's view is unrealistic, people who have fought eminent domain say it's already here.

"Now that they've got carte blanche to do whatever they want, they will," said Dick Saha, 75, who in May won a six-year fight to keep Coatesville, Pa., from seizing his farm.

"We have four horses. My two daughters have some land we gave them and the grandkids come down and ride the horses," Saha said. The town, he said, "decided they needed our property for a golf course."

Governments have historically used their eminent domain authority to build public projects such as roads, courthouses and reservoirs, but that power has gradually expanded as cities have used it to eliminate blight.

On Thursday, the high court ruled that New London could raze a residential neighborhood and replace it with hotels and offices that officials say could add millions of dollars to the tax base.

Municipal and development officials say they're being unfairly cast as greedy land grabbers. Taking property isn't pleasant, they say, but sometimes it is the only way to spur development in cities struggling to pay bills.

"The only way we can stay alive is to grow and revitalize," said Richard Monteilh, city administrator in Newark, N.J.

In his majority opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens said New London could pursue private development under the Fifth Amendment, which allows governments to take private property if the land is for public use. He said local officials are better positioned than federal judges to decide what's best for a community.

O'Connor, however, warned that the decision makes it easier for the rich to seize property from the poor.

That's what George Mytrowitz believes he's facing in Newark, where officials want to build 2,000 condominium units and retail space on 14 acres. City officials say the Mulberry Street area is blighted and should be demolished.