Is Eminent Domain Eroding Property Rights?

Jing Jiang and his family were shocked to learn the city of Auburn wants to seize their Shanghai Buffet Chinese Restaurant on behalf of a private developer. “We were really surprised,” said Jiang’s daughter Xue Jiang, 25, who was born in communist China. “I didn’t know there was such a law in the United States.”

It’s actually a New York state statute that allows the Auburn Industrial Development Agency to take the Jiangs’ property by eminent domain — for a fair market price — and convey it, along with two neighboring properties, to the Pioneer Cos. It’s high time the law was rebalanced to better protect property owners in the path of economic development.

Pioneer has proposed an $11 million hotel and conference center and two other properties on State Street. Pioneer can make a strong case that these improvements will benefit Auburn. Actually, it has to make that case, since the U.S. Constitution requires that eminent domain actions serve the public interest.

Municipalities use eminent domain to build and widen roads, construct bridges, schools and hospitals. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed its use for private development — and invited states to tailor their laws more narrowly. Since 2005, 43 states have done so — some banning eminent domain for private projects, others adding restrictions.