Fairfax County will join a lobbying push to preserve the ability of local governments to take private land, fighting measures by some state lawmakers to curtail the powers of eminent domain.
County Executive Anthony Griffin, in a memo sent last month, advised supervisors he would devote $5,000 in public funds to the campaign, arguing that eminent domain “is a very complicated and technical area of law which is not understood by a number of legislators.”
The controversy over the scope of a government’s rights to seize property for public use has intensified since the high-profile U.S. Supreme Court case of Kelo v. New London last year. The high court ruled in favor of a New England city that had sought to seize private land for purposes that included commercial development.
The issue ignited this year in the General Assembly when some delegates tried to pass legislation that would narrowly construe the powers of eminent domain, a move that proponents say would protect landowners from Kelo-style condemnations. That effort was unsuccessful.
Del. Robert Marshall, R-Manassas, a supporter of the legislation, argues that developers stifled attempts to write the protections into state law. He said he’s currently working on a constitutional amendment on the issue.
“The developers don’t want this; they want to be able to use the power that cities have of condemnation for urban renewal,” Marshall said. “That really is the stumbling block from protecting private property from these predators.”
Opponents of passing new eminent domain restrictions in Virginia argue that a situation like Kelo v. New London could never occur in the commonwealth because of existing laws.
“The real question is, when a housing authority or a county or a city is trying to prevent blight or get an area out of blight … how constrained should we be, or should we have the freedom to do that?” said Mark Flynn, director of legal services for the Virginia Municipal League.
