Decades ago, builders in South Florida tried to do it the legal way to take waterway property from long-time owners in order to build yacht marinas, claiming that the property was too good for the people who currently owned it.
The builders must have been elitist Democrats.
Excerpt:
An Eminent Domain High Tide
RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — It’s across the inlet from Palm Beach, but this town -- mostly black, blue-collar and with a large industrial and warehouse district -- could be a continent away from the Fortune 500 and Rolls-Royce set. But Riviera Beach’s fortunes may soon change.
In what has been called the largest eminent-domain case in the nation, the mayor and other elected leaders want to move about 6,000 residents, tear down their homes and use the emptied 400-acre site to build a waterfront yachting and residential complex for the well-to-do.
The goal, Mayor Michael D. Brown said during a public meeting in September, is to “forever change the landscape” in this municipality of about 32,500. The $1-billion plan, local leaders have said, should generate jobs and haul Riviera Beach’s economy out of the doldrums.
Opponents, however, call the plan a government-sanctioned land grab that benefits private developers and the wealthy. “What they mean is that the view I have is too good for me, and should go to some millionaire,” said Martha Babson, 60, a house painter who lives near the Intracoastal Waterway.
Riviera Beach, FL Eminent Domain
Protecting Kelo’s Victims In Riviera Beach, Florida: City Seeks to Use Eminent Domain To Replace Lower-Income & Minority Residents With Wealthier Ones
Thanks to IJ’s litigation efforts, the residents of Riviera Beach are no longer haunted by the specter of eminent domain abuse.
In the 2005 now-infamous case of Kelo v. New London, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the U.S. Constitution allows the taking of property for private economic development, but it also pointed out that states may offer more protection. The Florida legislature did just that and on May 4, 2006, passed a statute to prohibit such takings. Governor Bush signed the law on May 11, 2006. But Riviera Beach’s City Council voted on the night of May 10, 2006, to authorize signing an agreement to agree with developer Viking Harbor Inlet Properties that the City would use eminent domain to take property for the project. As a result, an 800-acre area full of homes and businesses, including as many as 5,100 residents, would be replaced with a yachting complex, luxury housing, and other private commercial uses.
Riviera Beach’s Mayor announced that the City believed that Florida’s new law did not apply to Riviera Beach, so IJ sued on behalf of Riviera Beach home and business owners to stop the use of eminent domain for private development. Shortly thereafter, the mayor was voted out of office, and new city council members were elected. Responding to public outcry, they made clear that plans to use eminent domain were off the table.
Thanks to IJ’s lawsuit, Riviera Beach ended the threat of eminent domain. IJ withdrew its lawsuit, and the people of Riviera Beach could return to enjoying their homes and growing their businesses.