Posted on 04/14/2002 11:28:42 AM PDT by jakedavidson
Several Newport homeowners asked a federal court Thursday to bar city government from forcing them to sell properties to make way for the Newport Promenade shopping center.
Their lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Covington, threatens to delay or derail the shopping-center portion and part of the housing construction that developer Neyer Properties plans for the project.
The single-family homes that will be built as part of the project for September's CitiRama home show will not be affected, officials have emphasized.
''CitiRama is a totally separate project and we already own every single property that we need to do CitiRama,'' said John Stevens, Neyer director of development.
The suit is not against Neyer, and it does not ask the court to prevent Neyer from buying land it has already agreed to purchase from the majority of the neighborhood's owners, who are anxious to sell.
Indeed, Stevens said the company also plans to begin acquisitions within 30 days to begin a separate phased housing project involving those properties Neyer has under contract.
Some of the eager sellers already have bought houses elsewhere and are making two house payments while they wait to close their deals with Neyer.
''Neyer is free to acquire properties,'' said attorney Robert Blau. ''We don't have a problem with Neyer. We don't have a problem with free enterprise. We don't have a problem with development.''
The properties are in a highly visible location between two Interstate 471 exits.
Businesses and the city covet the properties, on slopes of Wiedemann Hill in the Cote Brilliante neighborhood, as prime real estate ''which they seek to acquire as cheaply as possible,'' the lawsuit argues. ''Having reached the conclusion that they wanted this land, a means had to be devised to justify obtaining the parcels from the rightful owners.''
''Have we created a plan that conforms and complies with the statute? That's really the bottom line,'' City Manager Phil Ciafardini said Thursday evening. ''We are in compliance and all these other issues are not pertinent to that fact.''
Ciafardini has said the city will force sales only as its final option.
The three couples and one woman who filed the lawsuit object to the city's written pledge to Neyer in October that Newport would use eminent domain if necessary to move the project forward.
Their lawsuit argues it is unconstitutional for a Kentucky city to force a sale of an area that is not blighted. State law requires an area be a ''serious and growing menace'' that is causing significant crime and disease for a government to force a sale, the suit argues.
While Newport promised in October to use eminent domain, it wasn't until this year that city commissioners received evidence that blight existed, the suit said. The city failed to prove blight, it added.
I-471's construction decades ago triggered the neighborhood's downward spiral, Ciafardini said.
It would cost millions to upgrade streets, sewers and other infrastructure, ''and after you do that, what do you really have?'' he said. ''It's not like people are going to redevelop that.''
The Promenade project ''gives people an opportunity to start fresh, and most of the people down there are willing to do that,'' Ciafardini said. ''The other part of the public good is the creation of jobs, the creation of revenues.''
Thanks to money from the Newport Aquarium and other recent developments, the city will repair one-sixth of its streets this year, he noted, with windfalls from developments allowing other improvements to city services.
The suit was assigned to Judge William Bertelsman, who barred Highland Heights from forcing home sales to promote a hotel and office development three years ago.
During that lawsuit, the judge inspected the Highland Heights neighborhood himself and determined it was not blighted.
The Wiedemann Hill area is not as well maintained as the one in Highland Heights, and slowly moving slopes are causing the need for expensive repairs, city officials contend. But some residents say that if their area is blighted, so is most of Newport.
As part of the lawsuit, Blau and attorney Kurt Meier argued eminent domain should be disallowed.
The Wiedemann Hill area is not as well maintained as the one in Highland Heights, and slowly moving slopes are causing the need for expensive repairs, city officials contend. But some residents say that if their area is blighted, so is most of Newport.~~~
I-471's construction decades ago triggered the neighborhood's downward spiral, Ciafardini said.
~~~
The properties are in a highly visible location between two Interstate 471 exits.
~~~
The single-family homes that will be built as part of the project for September's CitiRama home show will not be affected, officials have emphasized. ''CitiRama is a totally separate project and we already own every single property that we need to do CitiRama,'' said John Stevens, Neyer director of development.
If you run this backwards, can you tell me why they can approve new construction in an area they claim has "...slowly moving slopes are causing the need for expensive repairs ...".
Great slogan, secretagent:
Eminent domain - welfare for the well connected.
Ping.
;^)
''Have we created a plan that conforms and complies with the statute? That's really the bottom line,'' City Manager Phil Ciafardini said Thursday evening. ''We are in compliance and all these other issues are not pertinent to that fact.''
Well, one line below the "bottom line", Mr Manager, determine for yourself whether Kentucky's constitution allows eminent domain to benefit special private interests. Speak to that first.
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