Real Estate & Property Law

Governmental Arrogance

By Alan Ackerman

Roanoke Times

The condemnation proceeding against land owned by Jay and Stephanie Burkholder should have been halted when Carilion came out late last year and announced that it did not need their property to complete its redevelopment of Riverside Center.

Carilion went further and said it never needed the property, but early documents make that claim hard to believe. In any case, Carilion says it doesn't need the property now. The city has no plans for it. Carilion has no plans for it.

Here we have two property owners who want to develop their property and a proposed developer who is having the city acquire the land by eminent domain for his proposed development.  Then, the developer pulls out, saying he does not need the land.  But the City goes on its merry way and gets beat up in a jury trial by Joe Waldo, Virginia's outstanding condemnation/eminent domain attorney.  

The editorial in The Roanoke Times, part of which is quoted above, is well worth reading.

Full post as published by National Eminent Domain Blog on March 23, 2010 (boomark / email).