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Eminent Domain in Kentucky

by Theresa Fritz Camoriano

 Eminent domain is supposed to be a mechanism by which the government can take private land in order to build roads and similar public necessities.  The property owner is supposed to be paid the fair value of his property when eminent domain is exercised.  However, in recent years, eminent domain laws have been abused and used to take property from one private owner to give to another, to build shopping centers, factories, and so forth.  We heard an outcry about the abuse of eminent domain during Louisville's airport expansion.  Eminent domain has again become a relatively hot topic around the state of  Kentucky, as the following articles will explain.  It should also be noted that the Institute for Justice has begun taking on eminent domain cases on behalf of the property owners, in Connecticut and elsewhere, defending against eminent domain takings for private use.  The scam is that a government first denotes an area as being blighted and then uses eminent domain to take property in that area, not as needed for a road or highway, but simply to make it easier and cheaper for a business to acquire the property. 

Court says state must let original owners buy land
Property taken by agencies must be used in 8 years

By Mark R. Chellgren
Associated Press

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- The state must tell the original owners of land the state has taken if the property has not been used within eight years and offer to let them repurchase the property at the original price, the Court of Appeals ruled yesterday.

http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2001/12/01/ke120101s114207.htm

Attorney Manley fighting eminent domain in northern Kentucky http://enquirer.com/editions/2001/10/30/loc_family_wont_budge.html

Covington Land Grab?

http://enquirer.com/editions/2001/02/03/loc_samples_land-grab.html

Eminent domain used to obtain land in Bowling Green

http://www.bgdailynews.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi?/200104/26+justus20010426_letters.html+20010426+letters

Land taken by eminent domain and not used may be repurchased by original owner http://www.courts.state.me.us/00me29so.htm

Downtrodden buildings targeted for eminent domain

http://www.kypost.com/2001/oct/31/list103101.html

Taking half a city block by eminent domain for Walgreens

http://www.citybeat.com/2001-04-26/bq.shtml

The Injustice of using eminent domain to benefit private businesses - by Institute for Justice atty

http://prfamerica.org/UnequalProtection.html

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