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Sunday, April 01, 2007

Law - Update on: Ohio Supreme Court issues long awaited eminent domain ruling

The Cincinnati Enquirer's July 26, 2006 headline was "Eminent domain abused: Ohio Supreme Court overrules Norwood home-taking." See a list of ILB entries on the case here.

Today's Enquirer headline reads: "Eminent domain holdouts sell: Two others still weighing their options." From the story by Steve Kemme:

Joy and Carl Gamble Jr. have reluctantly decided to give up plans to move back into the home they spent three years fighting to save from demolition in the landmark Norwood eminent domain battle.

Because of serious health concerns, the Gambles have agreed to sell their house in Norwood to Rookwood Partners for $650,000 - or $370,000 more than the value a jury had placed on their property in the early part of the court fight. * * *

The Gambles, who lived in their Norwood home for 35 years, were forced to move out two years ago when a Hamilton County judge ruled in Norwood's favor.

They moved to an apartment in Northern Kentucky.

Last July, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled against Norwood and the developer and ordered the properties returned to the Gambles and two other property owners.

Rookwood Partners had bought and demolished all but those three properties in a 75-parcel tract on 11 acres at Edwards and Edmondson roads when the Ohio Supreme Court issued its decision.

The ruling delighted eminent-domain opponents in Ohio and throughout the nation. It forced Ohio legislators to consider making it more difficult for cities to use eminent domain for economic development.

It was the first eminent-domain case to reach a state supreme court since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in 2005 that supported the right of New London, Conn., to take private property for commercial development. But the court said each state could decide how restrictive to make its eminent-domain laws.

In the Norwood case, the Ohio Supreme Court's decision prevented Rookwood Partners from building a $125 million office-retail-condo development. The three structures still standing on the large site - the Gambles' home, the rental home of Joe Horney and the home that Sanae Ichikawa-Burton and Michael Burton converted into a math and reading learning center - are situated so that the Rookwood Exchange could not be built as planned.

Horney and the Burtons, whose houses have been vacant for more than two years, have indicated in recent months that they're keeping their options open. But they have not agreed to sell, Gall said.

Related is this story from China, with its striking photos, of "the last house standing." This story, from Newsgd.com, reports:
A CHONGQING court Monday (Mar 19) ordered residents of a house, which stood by itself in the middle of an otherwise-vacant construction site in Jiulongpo District for more than two years, to move out before Thursday, after which the house will be demolished. [see photo here]

Photos of the two-story house have been circulated widely across the Internet after an anonymous Web surfer uploaded them recently. A large business center had been planned on the site where the house is currently located, and all 280 other families living on the plot moved out after construction started in September 2004. Their houses were subsequently pulled down.

Now the house stands alone atop a 20-meter-high mound in the middle of a gigantic construction site.

The BBC has this story, with this spectacular image. The BBC reports "A deadline set by the court ordering her to authorise the demolition ran out on Thursday, and it was not clear what steps the authorities would take next."

The Cincinnati Enquirer had an equally powerful photo in its April 30 , 2006 story - unfortunately it appears to no longer be available.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 1, 2007 12:24 PM
Posted to General Law Related