domain040706

On the homepage

Schools

St. Paul schools chief: 'I can't do it alone'

Out There

Petters

Petters jury to resume deliberations Monday

Burning

Anoka County burn clears way for life

Home | Politically Connected

House restricts eminent domain

The move by the House reins in government power to seize property, but it didn't end debate for good.

By David Peterson, Star Tribune

Last update: April 6, 2006 - 10:20 PM

The Minnesota House voted 115-17 late Thursday to rein in the use of eminent domain, the process by which governments can take private property for community or redevelopment projects.

But a lengthy battle over whether to exempt two projects seemed to foreshadow a future in which hard-pressed communities come forward to make the case that important ventures could be blocked.

For the time being, however, advocates of the status quo acknowledged that the vote, coming after an even more lopsided vote in the Senate, amounts to a comprehensive defeat.

"We have made a very significant shift in this state on eminent domain," said Louis Jambois, executive director of the Association of Metropolitan Municipalities. "We have gone from a reasonably liberal position, nationally, to being one of several states that now severely restrict its use."

Eminent domain could still be used for its traditional purposes of acquiring land for things such as roads and schools, though both sides conceded that extra layers of protection for property owners would be liable to add millions to the cost of those deals.

What it seeks to throttle back is an increasing municipal aggressiveness, as cities age, to acquire blighted properties and turn them over to developers of new projects. Properties deemed blighted could still be acquired, but some cities say the bill sets the bar so high that that will rarely happen. Leaders of both parties agree, however, that the bar has been much too low in the past.

"The prior standard for blight was too low, but this bill will gradually erode the very core of our cities," said Rep. Keith Ellison, DFL-Minneapolis. "People who live in place with real blight, real contamination, their lives will get worse. People will move to pristine green fields instead."

But Jeff Johnson, R-Plymouth, the bill's chief author, said it rights a situation in which government powers grew "extremely expansive," to the point where things began happening that "many people couldn't believe were happening in America."

The bill is part of a national explosion of legislation in response to last summer's controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing government agencies to acquire private property, regardless of whether the owners wish to sell it, for purposes of economic development.

People on both sides of the Minnesota bill predicted a future in which cities make special appeals for their own projects -- and Thursday's session offered evidence.

Two legislators -- a Democrat from a first-ring suburb and a Republican from a rural city -- asked their colleagues to exempt major projects underway in their communities.

Rep. Barbara Goodwin, DFL-Columbia Heights, said the bill endangers a project many of her constituents support. Along Central Avenue near the city's southern border with Minneapolis, she said, the city has invested nearly $1 million already in a project that involves no private homes, only businesses, but is stalled by a single holdout. "I have never heard anyone object to this project," she said, but it wouldn't qualify for eminent domain under the bill's new rules, she added.

An amendment that would exempt that project, and a bridge in Sauk Rapids, ultimately was not adopted, but backers said they'd try again when a House-Senate conference committee meets. David Peterson • 612-673-4440.

Recent Politically Connected stories

House votes to block Medicare cuts to doctors, Republicans see a payoff to the AMA - April 6, 2006

House votes to block Medicare cuts to doctors, Republicans see a payoff to the AMA - The Democratic-controlled House voted Thursday to add more than $200 billion to the deficit to prevent steep Medicare payment cuts to doctors, a move Republicans denounced as a political payoff. More

Comment on this story | Be the first to comment | Hide reader comments

The Whistleblower blog has moved

The Star Tribune is still blowing the whistle, but our look and location have changed. Click here to get to the new blog. If you want the actual URL, it’s www.startribune.com/blogs/whistleblower.html. Our blog posts will now be easier to search on the web site, but you’ll need to register to post a comment. In the [...]

Open positions!

A new career awaits. Look through thousands of listings to find your new job. Start now!

No resume? No problem!

Create a skills profile in minutes, let a recruiter match you to an open position. Click here to get started.

National Politics

President

U.S. Senate

U.S. House

In Congress

State Politics

Local Politics