Posted on 06/20/2002 10:48:20 AM PDT by Alan Chapman
The city of Indianapolis wants Lucian Anderson's house.
The rickety, unoccupied abode he owns at 2544 N. Central Ave. is one of several run-down homes in Fall Creek Place, a Near-Northside neighborhood that officials have targeted for massive urban redevelopment.
For more than two years, a team of city lawyers and planners has been acquiring land and sprucing up houses in the area, then selling some of them to a mix of low- and moderate-income buyers.
The only problem is that Anderson doesn't want to give up his home.
"This is a property that he's been working to rehabilitate, and he doesn't want it taken," said Scott Pankow, Anderson's lawyer.
The city has invoked its power of eminent domain, an oft-used but little understood centuries-old process that allows private property to be taken for public use without the owner's consent. All the government must do is pay a fair market price for the parcel.
"We do this relatively routinely," said Beth White, deputy corporation counsel for the city.
White said the city doesn't keep track of how much land it acquires each year in Marion County or how much it costs taxpayers. She said the city takes about 50 pieces of land each year for public works projects and has been working on three major eminent domain cases since 2000.
Despite the checks and balances spelled out in Indiana law, experts and attorneys who handle eminent domain cases grumble that the system favors the government and steps on property owners.
When officials routed I-65 through the middle of Indianapolis in the 1960s, for example, they had to acquire thousands of homes and pieces of land. Residents penned angry letters and signed petitions to stop the expansion, but that didn't stop the highway.
In the early 1990s, the city won approval from a panel of judges to condemn about 30 homes and a handful of businesses along the Downtown Canal for an urban renewal project. Neighbors attended public meetings and protested knocking down old houses to make way for the high-density apartments that now line the waterway.
Indiana University law Professor Ann Geddis said that while the eminent domain process ultimately benefits the public, it doesn't take into account what a piece of property might mean to an individual.
"It's a forced sale. Just compensation doesn't compensate for sentiments and the number of years you've lived there and all the other things that people -- particularly homeowners -- associate with their homes," Geddis said.
Here's how it works:
If a property owner can't be located or doesn't want to make a deal, the city can file an eminent domain case in state court. Taxpayers pick up the tab for three independent appraisals of the property's value, and the average is submitted as the fair market price.
That's what the property owner will get paid unless an objection is filed. Then the case can wind up in mediation or before a civil court judge.
It can take anywhere from a few months to several years to settle a case. Taxpayers foot the bill for countless real estate appraisals, courtroom battles and final settlements with property owners.
Take the case of Bob Parker, the former GOP mayoral candidate who owned 86 parcels of land in the Martindale-Brightwood area, where officials had planned to build an industrial park. Last year, city lawyers won their two-year battle with Parker, who had asked $3.8 million for his property; the city offered $350,000. A judge ruled in the city's favor; Parker ended up with $350,000.
A more recent eminent domain case was filed last month against the Plaza Parking garage at 30 W. Vermont St. City officials say the garage, which is between two soon-to-be-renovated apartment buildings, is the missing piece of a plan that will breathe life back into the neglected block.
The city filed a condemnation lawsuit May 17 against garage owner Elizabeth Fernando after almost four years of negotiations. Fernando turned officials down when they offered her $812,500 for the property last year.
"The only reason we're doing it is to make the development work," said Mayor Bart Peterson, who inherited the project from his predecessor, Stephen Goldsmith.
Peterson said condemnation is the last weapon in his arsenal.
"I take no pleasure in using the power of eminent domain," Peterson said, "and I think it needs to be used very sparingly."
Since he took office two years ago, Peterson has committed to several major projects that have involved the use of eminent domain:
• Developing an 82-acre business park in Martindale-Brightwood;
• Renovating and selling property in the Fall Creek Place homeownership zone;
• Improving antiquated sewers along Pogues Run.
Although the process provides several opportunities for property owners to fight government condemnation, sometimes a case slips through the cracks.
Lucian Anderson claims he never received the letter city officials say they sent about his home in Fall Creek Place. He also says he didn't see the eminent domain notice that ran in The Indianapolis Star for three weeks. Now he wants a chance to prove his property is worth more than the city's appraisals, which pegged the value at $40,000.
Anderson was slated to present his case to a judge this week, but city officials have agreed to discuss a possible settlement. His lawyer said Anderson just wants to be involved in the process.
"My client was shocked to find out that not only is the city taking your property, they've taken it. It's gone," Pankow said.
"We do this relatively routinely," said Joseph Mengele, Adolf Hitler's personal physician.
Um, that makes it WORSE, not better!
These are interesting facts the Star fails to point out.
This case is an abuse of power.
It would be well if the cost included moving expenses and some other things. For example, when Pittsburgh was putting a section of the Interstate through town, it had to whack several houses. An elderly lady lived in one, and her property was assessed at $12,000. It is doubtful she could find another suitable property for that amount and at her age. I never heard if the city put her in a retirement home at state expense or just sent her to work in the coal mines for the rest of her life.
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