by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Eminent domain presents no imminent danger to Duval County property owners said Jacksonville’s top economic development official Thursday.
Following last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling on eminent domain that critics called a strike against property rights, Florida’s legislature is expected to make the issue a priority when it convenes in March. But Ron Barton, the executive director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, said he’s rarely seen eminent domain abused in a near three-decade career in Florida economic development.
“I don’t know if people are aware that it’s a power rarely used and very rarely abused,” said Barton.
Eminent domain allows the government to take private property (with compensation) for public use. Typically it was used to clear room for public works projects like highways or to eliminate blighted structures. But the Supreme Court’s ruling last June in the case of Kelo vs. City of New London, Conn. provided an opening for local governments to use eminent domain with an economic development motive.
The Court voted 5-4 to uphold the City of New London’s right to take private property for sale to developers of a mixed-use condominium and office project. New London’s motive was to boost capital investment into a poor part of town and increase the tax revenues coming out.
Barton doesn’t agree with that rationale. Eminent domain should be used only to clear blighted areas, he said. Those areas sit undeveloped for decades or longer for a reason, said Barton. Without government intervention they would continue to sit as obstacles to the neighborhood’s economic redevelopment.
“Some of these property parcels were laid out at the turn of the century,” said Barton. “They’re darn near undevelopable.”
While Barton may not agree with Kelo, he might have to deal with the decision’s political fallout, particularly if the Legislature makes good on several members’ promises to bolster Florida property rights.
In the wake of the Kelo decision, House Speaker Allan Bense formed a committee to study property rights in preparation for the upcoming session. State Rep. Everett Rice (Pinellas County) wants the House to approve a resolution that would allow for a popular vote on strengthened property rights language to be added to the state constitution.
The resolution would bar eminent domain in cases motivated by “private economic development.” Critics of the resolution say it’s too broad and would likely lead to increased litigation over the use of eminent domain.
Barton noted that Florida is already one of eight states that restricts the land seizures to blighted parcels. He doesn’t think more regulation makes sense, but he’s concerned politics might trump policy when the Legislature convenes.
“I’m concerned that some of the pending legislation might have been generated by emotion, not facts,” said Barton. “We’re going to work with our legislators, educating them on how we use it and hope that the facts prevail.”