Virginia lawmakers hope to permanently curb the power of local governments to seize private property and then turn it over to someone else even though local officials complain that the change would cause financial hardships for cash-strapped communities. The U.S. Constitution has always allowed local governments to take private land for public uses, like schools, parks or roads. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that governments could also seize land and give it to a private developer in the name of economic development and that’s a practice state officials want to ban.
A constitutional amendment that bans the taking of land for such economic development projects easily passed Virginia’s General Assembly earlier this year. But it must be approved a second time by the legislature in 2012 before it can go to voters in November for final approval.
The amendment, filed by Del. Robert Bell, R-Charlottesville for the General Assembly’s January session, cements in the state constitution the same restrictions contained in a 2007 law preventing municipalities from acquiring private property to assist a private business. Bell said putting it in the constitution guarantees lawmakers can’t easily change the rule.
The current draft also requires the government to pay landowners the estimated property value when invoking eminent domain and bans municipalities from acquiring more land than needed for a specific project.
