Eminent Domain Report

According to an article by Ken Carlson in the Modesto Bee, "Modesto will try eminent domain," the Modesto City Council this week voted 6-0 in favor of utilizing eminent domain to acquire easements necessary for the widening of Roselle Avenue.  The remaining hold-out properties include part-takes from a seven-acre ranchette and a two-and-a-half acre vacant lot.  The owner of the ranchette, Daniel Nickles, claims the City's survey is flawed, and its $15,000 offer is less than a tenth of fair market value.

The acquisition if Nickles' property includes a 5-foot by ...

I read a really interesting blog post by Robert Thomas, 10th Cir: Landowner Not "Prevailing Party" Even Though They "Won $3.8 Million -- Much More Than The Government Ever Offered Them".  It describes a recent 10th Circuit decision that denied the property owner an attorneys' fees award where (1) the property was valued at trial at $3.8 million and (2) the government's offer was a mere $186,500.  What caught my attention was the mechanism by which the federal courts award fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), as compared to the fee-shifting rules in California. 

Under the EAJA ...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently issued an interesting opinion which addresses the question of whether or not a government agency's application of the Endangered Species Act can trigger a property owner's Fifth Amendment Takings Claim.

My colleague Ben Rubin has a more detailed post about the case, Klamath Irrigation District v. United States, on our firm's Endangered Species Law and Policy Blog.  More generally, the Klamath Irrigation District case analyzes whether the US Bureau of Reclamation's decision to reduce water delivery to farmers ...

As we have previously reported (Fate of Redevelopment Remains in Limbo), the bills to eliminate redevelopment agencies have languished due to Republican opposition.  With so many redevelopment agencies scrambling to use or secure redevelopment funds in an effort to protect them from being taken by Sacramento and with shortfalls in property tax revenues due to declining property values, redevelopment agencies are no longer as tempting a target for bridging the State’s budgetary shortfall.  

While redevelopment agencies may survive this budget cycle, the fight over their ...

The case involving a small boxing gym in National City, California, has garnered national media attention.  The owner filed suit challenging National City's redevelopment plan for, among other things, failing to follow California's post-Kelo rules on making blight determinations.

We reported on the case last month in A More Personal View of the Redevelopment Fight from National City.  The trial ended a few weeks ago, and the parties have been anxiously waiting for a decision ever since.  Late yesterday, the court issued its decision, ruling in favor of plaintiffs.  According to ...

We've been following the Guggenheim case for more than a year now, and in the last week or so, there have been a number of developments.  As a quick recap, this decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the City of Goleta's rent control ordinance - which had the effect of transferring the vast majority of a mobile home park's value from the park owner to the tenants - did not constitute a taking.  The decision followed an earlier decision by a different panel of the same court, in which the court held that the ordinance did qualify as a taking. 

Not surprisingly, the owner then sought ...

I presented an update on eminent domain/redevelopment issues making their way through the legislature at this week's IRWA Chapter 67 (Orange County) monthly meeting, and I've received a few follow-up requests for more information.  So I decided it was probably worthwhile to put all the information here on the Nossaman blog. 

• Status of California Redevelopment Agencies:  It's now been several weeks since the  attempted Assembly votes, where Governor Brown's attempt to eliminate redevelopment agencies fell one vote short.  The Governor needs the $2.2 billion in ...

Roy Fowler's Furniture Station has been a well-known staple within the City of Azusa.  The 39-year-old store has witnessed much change in the area known as Corky's Corner.  However, the store is now officially shutting down after the City of Azusa acquired the property through eminent domain.

According to an article in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, "Long-time Azusa furniture store to close after losing battle against city, eminent domain," the Furniture Station finally reached a settlement with the City after a contentious eminent domain battle.  The City sought to ...

If Gov. Brown wins, plans for sports venues in Escondido and San Diego lose.  So ran a headline on the Los Angeles Times' blog earlier this year.  The article noted if the governor were successful in abolishing redevelopment agencies, it could kill plans for a minor-league baseball park in Escondido and a new football stadium for the Chargers in downtown San Diego.  Any new stadium for the A’s, either in Oakland or San Jose, could experience some similar fate.

With SB 77 falling 1 vote short of the requisite 2/3 majority in the Assembly, and traction being gained by the California ...

I wanted to provide a quick update on a couple of cases we've reported on earlier. 

The first case is the dispute between the City of Seal Beach and Bay City Partners over 10.7 acres of waterfront property.  The city wanted the property preserved for the public, while the owner wanted to use it as part of a new oceanfront development.  According to a March 29 article in the Orange County Register by Roxana Kopetman, Seal Beach and developer agree on waterfront property, the parties agreed this week to a settlement that will result in leaving about 70 percent of the property open to the ...