Eminent Domain Rolls On

Despite large scale public outrage over the Supreme Court Decision in Kelo v New London, eminent domain remains widely used. Neal Boortz is highlighting this story out of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

This little scenario is playing out in the Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs.  A group of Jewish parents worked for years to acquire a site for a new private Jewish high school.  Two years ago they paid $20 million for a site for the new Weber School.  Over the weekend they had a groundbreaking celebration.  But wait!  Something's wrong!  Just a few weeks ago a letter was received from the Fulton County school system.  Forget your construction plans, we want the site for an elementary school.  If you don't agree to sell it to us by today, we'll just simply take it through eminent domain.  Let's go ahead and state the obvious.  Which facility would better serve the community?  A Jewish high school with it's dedication to excellence, or yet another government school with the inevitability of mediocrity.

Neal opposes this eminent domain action based on the relative value of a private school education versus a public school education. While he may be right in that evaluation, it does form a reasonable basis to oppose an eminent domain action.

In fact under the amendment proposed by the Open Source Amendment Project this action by Sandy Springs GA, is allowed.

Public use shall be understood to be property the government owns or retains the paramount interest in, and the public has a legal right to use. Public use shall be understood to include property the government owns and maintains as a secure facility. Public use shall not be construed to include economic development or increased tax revenue. Public use of such property shall be maintained for a period of not less than 25 years.

In fact this action would be justifiable under a reasonable interpretation of the eminent domain clause of the Fifth Amendment.

However, under the proposed Open Source Amendment this action might well not be taken and Boortz would have his preferred private school. Under the third clause of the proposed amendment the cost to Sandy Springs of acquiring the Weber School site would likely have forced them to look elsewhere.

Just compensation shall be the higher of twice the average of the price paid for similar property in the preceding six months, or twice the average of the previous 10 recorded similar property transactions. Compensation paid shall be exempt from taxation in any form by any government within these United States.

In the end, though the action in this case would represent a legitimate use of eminent domain, unless there is absolutely no other suitable property for the city to acquire at market price, the property would not be taken. And if the town did proceed with eminent domain, the Weber school would recover its original investment plus a significant windfall that should make it easier to secure and alternate site.

It is time to reign in the government's power to seize our property and to re-assert the primacy of property rights. Sign the Open Source Amendment Project Petition today.

Technorati Tags: Eminent Domain, Kelo, Property Rights, property-rights, Supreme Court

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 07:38 AM | No Comments | Add Comment