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Long Branch, N.J. --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) today announced plans to introduce legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives that will prohibit communities from invoking eminent domain, except under extreme circumstances.
"My legislation will help families fight for the homes that they have worked and saved for and to ensure that their homes are not unfairly seized by the government," said Pallone.
The New Jersey Congressman's announcement follows a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that has raised serious concerns about a community's ability to seize property under eminent domain for private use. The case involved homes slated for eminent domain in New London, CT scheduled to be razed to clear room for a new economic redevelopment project. Pallone has expressed concern that the court's ruling in favor of the town and the developers opens the door for future eminent domain abuses.
Pallone opposes the Supreme Court decision and supported an amendment passed by the House late last month that prevents the enforcement of the court's ruling in the New London case.
"I strongly oppose the majority opinion in the Kelo case," Pallone said. The court’s decision weakens the basic constitutional principle protecting private property from being taken for private use. Our founding fathers were clear in the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment when they wrote that private property could only be taken by a government for public use."
Pallone was joined at today's announcement by members of the MTOTSA Alliance, a coalition of Long Branch homeowners and residents whose homes may be condemned through eminent domain to make way for a new beachfront redevelopment project
"The situation at the Jersey Shore is particularly prone to abuse because of high real estate prices. Middle class houses can easily be replaced by Long Branch or other shore towns to make way for high-density luxury housing. We are standing in a well-kept middle class community scheduled to be replaced with upscale condos or townhouses in the name of economic revitalization," Pallone said.
Pallone's proposed legislation will essentially track Justice O'Conner's dissenting opinion in the Kelo case, which holds that an economic develop taking for private purposes is not essentially constitutional. Eminent domain can be used by a municipality for traditional public uses like roads hospitals or recreation facilities. Otherwise, eminent domain can only be used in exceptional circumstances where the neighborhood has become injurious to the public health or safety.
"A town would not be able to use eminent domain to take an ordinary neighborhood in order to generate increased tax revenue, more jobs, or other economic benefits that would result from the transfer from one private party to another," Pallone explained.
Pallone said his legislation would also seek to provide federal incentives to encourage municipalities to 1) show that they have explored all necessary alternatives to eminent domain, 2) ensure that, in the rare cases where homes are taken, that the homeowners receive compensation well beyond the market value to reflect relocation cost and the intangible value of a family's home, 3) redevelopment plans include affordable housing for families and seniors and an equivalent housing plan in the case of commercial development, and 4) include a referendum vote on any major redevelopment project. |
