City Seeks To Oust Church Through Eminent Domain

CNSNews.com ^ | 4/11/02 | Jason Pierce

[jimtorr]

Eminent Domain on behalf of a commercial enterprise. Legally questionable. i hope they are ready to fight it out in the courts all the way to the top.

[fred flinch]

Good luck to the church but I see no hope. We had two house lots in Bangor Maine,that the city took, gave us $300.00 for them and they built low income houses on it.

[Rebelbase]

"Cottonwood's 4,000 attendees"

The entire church needs to show up at the next city council meeting. That is what happened here when a church here was wanting a rezoning on a property they owned. The Council granted the request, which normally would have been denied.

[Rebelbase]

Here is the Cypress City Council's e-mail address:

adm@ci.cypress.ca.us

Lets tell them what we think of their plan.

[jimtorr]

Good luck to the church but I see no hope. We had two house lots in Bangor Maine,that the city took, gave us $300.00 for them and they built low income houses on it.

That's why they need to be willing to go to the highest court possible, to have any chance to at least get compensation at market rates.

I imagine that you, like most people, could not afford the court fight. That's what most cities count on.

[fporretto]

If a municipal government can get away with condemning private property, not for public use but to hand it over to a private developer, there are no more rights in America. There is only power, and your choice of whether to align with it, flee from it, or hope it fails to notice you.

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com

[BIOMAN]

This was also tried in South Bend IN. at my brother-in-laws church.
The city wanted that piece of land for "expansion" of downtown "tax" based buisnesses and so they used that move. But it went to the Ind.St. Supreme Crt and they told the city to rethink what they were doing.
Long story short, the church still moved but was given a fair price for the property and has bought property just down the street and has renovated a bldg.

[jaq]

I have a better idea. Use those 4,000 people in an all-out effort to recall all these idiots. Most people understand the word "fair," and this land-grab attempt is outrageous.

[Free the USA]

Check the Bump List folders for articles related to and descriptions of the above topic(s) or for other topics of interest.

[survivalforum.com]

If a municipal government can get away with condemning private property, not for public use but to hand it over to a private developer, there are no more rights in America. There is only power, and your choice of whether to align with it, flee from it, or hope it fails to notice you.

Well put...I couldn't have said it any better. What happened to the brains of people? I must admit that I am surprised every day now at what I see...

eminent domain is fine, but for commercial, financial reasons?

What an outrage

Franklin

[gumbo]

The Institute for Justice takes this kind of case pro bono.

One of their victories was on behalf of an Atlantic City widow, Vera Coking, whose property Atlantic City tried to condemn and take so Donald Trump could build a parking lot for his casino.

[gumbo]

(Corrected link:) Vera Coking flashing the V-sign after defeating Atlantic City/Donald Trump's efforts to take her property.

[Malacoda]

Eminent Domain on behalf of a commercial enterprise. Legally questionable. i hope they are ready to fight it out in the courts all the way to the top.

They did this recently in Chester County, PA -- near Coatesville. The City of Coatesville used EMINENT DOMAIN to take a large chunk of the Saha's land -- a family-owned farm that they'd had for decades -- and hand it over to be turned into a GOLF COURSE. The argument they used was that the golf course would generate business (and taxes) for Coatesville, that could be used to renovate/revitalize the city.

The local representatives and the city council were all for it, and the Sahas got royally screwed. Sadly enough, even the neighbors didn't fight it, as it was for the "community good." In some public forums, the Sahas were pilloried for not having community spirit, and not wanting to contribute to the community betterment.

The "Daily Local News" in Chester County published some beauties, let me tell you. My favorite was the letter intimating that the Sahas had "more than their share" of land, and it wasn't fair to those around them -- that land should be distributed equally to everyone in the area.

[FreeTally]

This sort of crap is sickening. I mean it is sickening for the fact that we as Americans have let our "government" get away with this. The mere act of taking someoneis land to give to another should create lynch mobs in the streets.

That being said, eminent domain trials are similar to murder trials in that you get 12 jurors. The property owner can hire their own consultant to value the land, and the government will do likewise. 99.99% of the time, the property owner gets a fair deal, because the government has to pay fair market value by law. Property owners get screwed when they just accept an offer that the governing agency comes up with without getting an independent opinion. However, we no longer have any rights if the government can essentially "force a sale" to a private entity.

[Fish out of Water]

bttt

[Corporate Law]

This is happening more and more.

[MaggieMay]

They have probably already spent the money from their new shopping center cash cow. You cannot make any tax money from a church.

[Rebelbase]

Here is a link to an article posted on the Cottonwood Christian Center's website COTTONWOOD CHRISTIAN CENTER FILES STATE/FEDERAL LAWSUITS AGAINST CYPRESS