Thursday, April 07, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Measure would restrict use of eminent domain

Government would have to show areas are blighted before seizing property

Tim Nelson with Evans Creek LLC speaks Wednesday during a committee hearing at the Legislature in Carson City. Photo by CATHLEEN ALLISON/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CARSON CITY -- A bill that would require a government agency to find that all parcels sought in an eminent domain action are blighted before they could be seized for redevelopment was debated Wednesday in a Senate committee.

The bill sought by Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, also would put a halt to an eminent domain action by Washoe County to acquire a privately owned 1,019-acre parcel in southwest Reno for open space.

"I would suggest to you that that is an abuse of the eminent domain process," Care said in testifying on Senate Bill 326.

His bill would bar the use of eminent domain to acquire property for open space or for "protecting, conserving or preserving wildlife habitat." The provision also would be made retroactive to halt the Washoe County acquisition.

Care said his decision to intervene in the historic Ballardini Ranch controversy in Washoe County was made on his own. The owners of the ranch, Minnesota-based Evans Creek LLC, are fighting the eminent domain action in U.S. District Court on civil rights grounds. The case has been sent to Washoe District Court.

"It has been suggested that somehow I was in cahoots with the folks of Evans Creek," Care said. "Absolutely not true."

The proposal to restrict eminent domain for redevelopment projects is the result of the controversy involving the construction of the Fremont Street Project, Care said. The Pappas family, which owned parcels taken for a parking garage in 1993, opposed the eminent domain action on their land.

But after a lengthy court process, the Supreme Court in a 4-2 ruling issued in 2003 upheld the taking of the Pappas property, even though family member Harry Pappas said it was not blighted.

The Pappas family ultimately settled the case with the city of Las Vegas in 2004 for $4.5 million.

Care said he is relying on a dissenting opinion by the late Justice Myron Leavitt in crafting his bill. Leavitt said there was no evidence of blight on the Pappas property, and Care said he decided to seek a change to the law to require all properties sought in a condemnation action to be found to be blighted, not just some of the parcels in a project area.

Steve Meyers, representing the city of Reno redevelopment agency, argued against the change to require all property to be found blighted before a project could go forward.

"The findings of blight are extensive; they are subject to judicial review," he said. "But once those blight findings have been made, any property within the project area should be eligible for acquisition, of course as a last resort, but when necessary to carry out a plan."

Care's measure is the second introduced this session dealing with eminent domain for redevelopment purposes. Assembly Bill 143, sought by Assemblyman William Horne, D-Las Vegas, would establish conditions that would have to be met before land could be taken by eminent domain for redevelopment.

The Senate hearing was to continue today to take additional testimony.

Tim Nelson, an officer and representative of Evans Creek LLC, testified on behalf of Care's bill, saying Washoe County officials have abused the power of eminent domain in an effort to acquire the property. The company paid $8.5 million for the ranch in 1998 and has proposed building homes on the land.

Nelson called the effort by the county, an "abusive and unlawful exercise of eminent domain."

But Mike Chapman, an attorney representing Washoe County in the case, objected to Care's recommendation to make the change in law retroactive to cover the Ballardini Ranch action.

"It exposes the county to a claim of $50 million in damages from Evans Creek," he said.

Chapman said the action is not a seizure of the Ballardini Ranch land. The property owner will be compensated once the value of the land is determined, he said.