Curbing abuse of eminent domain

editorial

While a new state law rightly provides protection for "blighted" farmland, it may be time for a full review of condemnation laws.

By The Denver Post
Posted: 04/18/2010
http://www.denverpost.com/editorials/ci_14893602

A new state law signed by the governor last week will curb some of the egregious abuses of eminent domain law in which government declares farmland to be "blighted" and then forcibly buys it from unwilling sellers for urban renewal.

It's the type of eminent domain reform that is long overdue, and we hope it will offer protections to landowners from governments that have designs on their property.

But we have concerns about the exception the new law makes for enclaves - agricultural land that is surrounded by other developed property - since this is frequently the land that needs the most protection.

And this latest tweaking of state condemnation law, one of many piecemeal revisions in the last decade, makes us think a comprehensive look at eminent domain laws is in order to see whether they should be overhauled.

We don't, however, want to overlook the protections that House Bill 1107, signed by Gov. Bill Ritter on Wednesday, will offer against the conversion of farms into strip malls at taxpayer expense.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Randy Fischer, D-Lamar, and Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, was helped by broad support from farmers, environmentalists, local governments and local planners. Some of the most outrageous examples of eminent domain usage occur when government, which wants to sweeten the deal for developers, uses its powers of condemnation to forcibly purchase agricultural land so it can be made part of a package to coax retail development.

Though governments will routinely deny it, the heavy reliance on sales tax for government revenue - generated by high-volume retail - has motivated local governments to abuse their eminent domain powers.

Let's put it this way: You're going to collect a heck of a lot more in sales tax revenue from a Wal-Mart than from a corn field.

The new law says land that has been classified by the county assessor as agricultural land cannot be condemned for urban renewal. However, it makes an exception for agricultural land that is an enclave within cities and has had development around it for at least three years.

We will have to see how the law shakes out in the coming years, but that seems to be an awfully big exception. That's exactly the kind of land that usually needs the most protection from government.

Eminent domain laws have been tweaked in a piecemeal fashion over the years, and it may be beneficial to examine whether the changes all work together and present a coherent body of law that doesn't contain conflicts.

Eminent domain is a strong government power that ought to be used only as a last resort to resurrect downtrodden inner cities. If governments continue to stray beyond that mission, lawmakers must take steps to stop them.

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