Eminence front

03:23 PM EDT on Thursday, September 22, 2005

What if Louisville Metro government wanted your home for new condos, or a mall? Could City Hall condemn your property, just take it? Some landowners are telling Kentucky lawmakers that cities and other municipal agencies are already abusing their power of eminent domain.

“We don’t think that private citizens’ property should be taken for private interest under the guise of government or quasi-governmental purported uses,” says property owner Teena Halbig.

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“We never set up government to rob us the way it’s been going on,” says attorney Osi Onyekwuluje.

A recent example: The developer of a new subdivision in eastern Jefferson County wanted to stake out sewer lines across private property, getting permission to use MSD's condemnation powers to force landowners to go along.

“To allow developers essentially to declare eminent domain or have eminent domain rights, under the guise of protecting the public good in order to develop private property to me sounds very wrong,” says property owner Greg Nickels.

Lawmakers in Kentucky and other states are listening, mainly because of the Kelo case. The u.s. Supreme Court sided with the city of New London, Connecticut, giving them the power to bulldoze people's homes in favor of a private hotel, condo and office complex.

“There’s considerable concern with the Kelo case in Connecticut and our statute is very, very, very similar,” says Rep. Gross Lindsay (D), Judiciary Committee Chairman.

But Kentucky’s cities say the concern is misplaced. They say Kentucky’s law requires a public use for condemned land. For instance, they say Louisville Metro government couldn't condemn houses to build a private condo complex, but they could and did take property for Waterfront Park across the street.

“The truth is we have one of the most conservative condemnation laws in the country and our Supreme Court has construed it very conservative on top of that,” says David Morris of Louisville Metro Development. “And second, where are the abuses?”

Kentucky isn't the only state considering changes to its eminent domain or condemnation laws. Several states are making it tougher for governments to take private property after hearing outrage from citizens over that U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Web story produced by Jay Ditzer.