Eminent Domain Fears Arise With City Center
E.L. to consider ban on using law
EAST LANSING - The City Council next week is slated to take up a resident’s proposal to ban use of eminent domain on projects related to private development.
The proposal is a response to city efforts to acquire several properties along Evergreen Avenue to build a city-owned parking structure as part of the $115 million private City Center II development.
The project by East Lansing-based Strathmore Development Co. is slated to include five new buildings with residential and commercial space spanning from Grand River Avenue and Abbot Road to Valley Court Park.
At least one property owner said he fears the city could use eminent domain law to force a sale of his property.
East Lansing officials say they continue to negotiate to buy the needed land and that the city has never used eminent domain.
The issue led Phil Bellfy, who lives nearby in the Oak Hill neighborhood, to propose a measure to take eminent domain off the table in such projects.
“If the city is serious that ‘we will not take land by eminent domain,’ I’m saying put it in writing,” said Bellfy, a Michigan State University professor who has lived in the neighborhood for about five years.
East Lansing Mayor Vic Loomis said he is putting Bellfy’s proposal on the agenda for the council’s Feb. 12 work session.
The City Council could vote to accept or reject the proposal then or ask city lawyers to review the measure and make a recommendation at a later meeting.
“This is an issue that’s top-of-mind to a number of our citizens,” Loomis said. “When people come forward with questions or issues, I don’t like them to languish.”
Eminent domain is just one issue with which city officials are likely to grapple as they consider the City Center II project.
Ann Nichols, president of the Oak Hill Neighborhood Association, said her neighbors are more concerned about the impact on Valley Court Park and their neighborhood.
She said residents are worried about increased traffic and whether the park still will be welcoming to their children for play.
“We feel like this has grown exponentially in a very short period of time and was presented to us as a done deal,” Nichols said.
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LSJ.com
Jeremy W. Steele
Lansing State Journal
Published February 5, 2008