Mayor Jones Discusses Eminent Domain Concerns with Senate Judiciary Committee Chair

Jun 5th, 2006

Mayor Sam Jones, along with Philadelphia Mayor John Street, led a delegation of mayors to meet with Senator Arlen Specter (PA) in Washington, D.C. on May 10 to discuss growing concerns about pending legislation that would restrict state and local use of eminent domain. The House adopted a proposal last year that would prohibit local use of eminent domain for economic development. Specter, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee which has jurisdiction over the issue in the Senate, has indicated he will not take action on the House bill. Instead, he is in the process of drafting his own proposal.

Legislation is being drafted in response to a huge public outcry against last year’s Supreme Court’s decision in City of New London v. Kelo, which affirmed the city’s use of eminent domain to take private property for economic development. On behalf of the Conference, Mayors Jones and Street, along with Carmel (IN) Mayor James Brainard, met with Specter to expressed concerns about a draft proposals circulated by committee staff.

The mayors explained that the draft proposal posed a problem for Philadelphia and many other cities across the nation. Demonstrating with pictures (of projects before and after eminent domain was used to promote development), Street discussed several city projects where eminent domain was successfully used to assemble land that was developed to eliminate blight, and provide low and moderate income housing to city-residents. He explained that none of these projects would have been permitted under the draft proposal.

One of the concerns he mentioned was the newly proposed blight standards in the bill, which would restrict the use of eminent domain to alleviate blighted conditions that are “…dangerous to public health and safety.” He pointed out that many blighted properties that are subject to eminent domain action can be easily modified to comply with the minimum health and safety standards but still qualify as blighted property.

Specter asked if there was a blight standard that worked for Philadelphia and Herb Wetzel, who accompanied Street and is director of Philadelphia’s redevelopment authority, told the Senator that the state of Pennsylvania had enacted a new law establishing new standards for blight that are acceptable to the city.

Wetzel also told Specter that draft provisions requiring property owners who faced condemnation to be financial participants in any new project on their land would not be feasible in most cases. He further stated that draft language in the bill allowing “takings” cases to go directly to federal courts, bypassing the local zoning process and state courts, could tie up projects for years.

Brainard provided Specter a booklet of pictures showing project sites before and after eminent domain was used for various public/private partnerships to redevelop blighted areas in Carmel. And Jones told the Senator there are severely distressed and blighted areas in Mobile as a result of multiple flooding from Hurricane Katrina and other hurricanes. He said redevelopment efforts will be critically hampered if eminent domain is removed as a tool.

Specter told mayors that he wanted to draft a realistic bill and that he would pay close attention to the concerns they raised. He said the blight standard in the new Pennsylvania law could be helpful in guiding his efforts. He also said he would try to accommodate the mayors’ concerns recognizing at the same time that there are others pushing in the opposite direction. Although he mentioned there were timing issues, he mentioned his desire to move a bill this Summer.