Eminent Domain Under Review

After Kelo v. New London I posted a number of times on the abuse of local New Jersey governments taking land for developers. Finally, yesterday, a new report makes clear that political contributions have a direct impact on who's land gets taken.

As others have testified in re cent months, however, Chen said constitutional protections for property owners have eroded to the point that property is being seized almost without notice, for little compensation and to enrich developers using campaign contributions to win support.

In what may be his most stringent suggestion, Chen zeroed in on the loose definition for deeming a property "in need of redevelopment," thus making it eligible to be seized.

A 1992 change by the Legislature allowed local officials to seize property that is "underutilized." Chen noted that another change in 2003 made his own suburban home in Berkeley Heights subject to condemnation, because it is located in a state-declared growth area. link