Can Government Land Grabs Be Stopped?

From the Jersey Journal:

BILL: STOP LAND GRABS
By BONNIE FRIEDMAN

The New Jersey state Legislature is considering a plan that would curb the government's power to take private property for economic good - a practice some say has turned the Garden State into a playground for real estate developers.

Lawmakers in the Assembly are expected to vote on Thursday on a bill that would restrict the legal definition of blight and change the criteria municipalities use when adopting redevelopment zones and exercising the power of eminent domain.

municipality can currently create a redevelopment zone when a property meets one of several definitions, including dilapidation, building code violations or other unsafe conditions.

The state also expanded the powers of eminent domain in 1992 by allowing municipalities to consider "under-utilization" or "stagnant" condition of property.

Under the proposed bill, which is being sponsored by Assemblymen Louis Manzo, D-Jersey City; John Burzichelli, D-Paulsboro; and Robert Gordon, D-Fair Lawn, municipalities would no longer consider "under-utilization.

In addition, municipalities would be forced to prove that 80 percent of property within a proposed redevelopment area meets the definition of "classic blight," and that the remaining 20 percent of property is necessary to the project and cannot be achieved by any other means.
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John Buonocore, an attorney specializing in condemnation cases who represents several property owners in Hoboken, called the legislation a step in the right direction, but said more needed to be done to determine how developers are selected.