Governments seize private homes for fun and profit

On Tuesday, Feb. 22, the U. S. Supreme Court will hear arguments to decide if the U.S. Constitution allows government (at any level) to use eminent domain laws to take property from one private owner to give it to another private owner it thinks can make better use of the land.

Also on Tuesday, citizens will rally in front of Bedford City Hall to bring attention to the abuse of eminent domain currently happening in our area.

Eminent domain is the power of the government to take private property for public uses such as schools and roads. Increasingly, local governments are taking people's homes and businesses and handing them over to private developers who can build more expensive homes or businesses on the property, and therefore create more tax revenues for the local governments. It’s happening in Virginia and across the country.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday in the Kelo v. City of New London (Connecticut) case, one of the most important property rights cases in the past 50 years.

The rights of all home and business owners hang in the balance.

The case involves the city of New London condemning the homes of Susette Kelo and her neighbors, as well as local businesses, to take over the land to build a private health club, office space and other private development projects.

Although to most people the definition of “public use” (the only allowable reason for eminent domain) is pretty clear (roads, schools, utility rights of way, etc.), the court must decide if it is going to tighten up the definition, or if it will allow governments to continue to twist that definition to justify private uses and erode the property rights of all Americans.

A case in Bedford city has been covered extensively in the Roanoke Times and involves the case of Mike Schrock, a Bedford County farmer whose farmland has been contaminated by the city's old leaking landfill, which operated on the edge of the city from the 1960s to the mid-1990s.

The city claims that it must take possession of his property to clean it up, and has been threatening the use of eminent domain to force him to sell the land.

Schrock says the city has no right to his land, and can clean it up while he still owns it. And he’s right. He has no obligation to sell. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality says the city has the responsibility to clean up the mess it made, no matter who owns the land.

Some speculate that the city wants the land because if it owned the property, it could take its time to clean up the contamination. Others speculate that because the land is surrounded by industrial parks, car dealerships, a Wal-Mart, and U.S. 460, the city wants to turn it into prime commercial real estate for its own purposes.

Either way, the city has been arguing with Schrock for two years about what to do with his land, rather than just starting the clean-up and preventing more damage to the land. Test wells show the contamination continues to spread as the city continues to delay.

Before the city told him of the contamination two years ago, Schrock owned the 92 acres as an investment to get him into a comfortable retirement, as he was planning on someday selling it for commercial development because of its prime location. If the city forces him to sell his land, he believes he should be paid based on its future market value as commercial property, not the $210,000 it is valued at now as agricultural land.

Schrock is still in negotiations with the city government. The city council recently passed a resolution stating that if he rejects the offer price, it will use eminent domain to force him to accept it.

Ironically, Bedford City Council is run by a majority of Republicans, who are supposed to espouse and respect individual property rights. Sadly, they don’t seem to take that role very seriously.

The success of the city’s strategy of using eminent domain to acquire county land outside its boundaries remains to be seen, and likely it would face many legal challenges. The city just needs to own up to its responsibilities, clean up the land, and let Schrock retain ownership so that when it’s finally clean, he can sell it as the investment he intended it to be and retire as he planned.

Members of the Lynchburg Libertarians, with the support of the Libertarian Party of Botetourt County, are organizing a rally on Tuesday, Feb. 22, at 4 p.m. in front of Bedford City Hall to draw attention to this local case, as well as the case before the Supreme Court. Mike Schrock and other citizens are expected to attend.

These cases will affect every land-owning Virginian. Consider attending the rally, not just for Mike Schrock or Susette Kelo, but for the property rights of all Americans. Because if you aren’t there, who will protest on the steps of City Hall when they come to take away your home?