Vol. 2, No. 13
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May 1, 2005
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CRIMINAL DEFENSE |
COPYWRITING
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Redevelopment Agencies Face Tough Fight Around Nevada
From Legislative Halls To City Council Tables, There Is Citizen Rebellion
Redevelopment districts disguised as projects to clean up so-called blighted property often are just a means to enacting another tax, legislators believe, or another way for a government agency to "condemn" then acquire through eminent domain, someone's property.
Assemblyman William Horne (D-Las Vegas) has been nurturing a bill through the Assembly that would make it much more difficult for private property to be taken by eminent domain. AB 143 was approved by the Assembly unanimously and now goes to the Senate for continued action.
Under Horne's proposal, there are certain criteria that must be met before eminent domain can be used for taking private property. Each of four factors must be proven before eminent domain proceeding can begin. Under current standards, and there are nine of them, only one must be proved before proceeding.
Horne used the Fremont Experience in Las Vegas as an example of over zealous use of eminent domain. Northern Nevada hasn't been exempt from the process either, considering the amount of private property that was taken for the current train trench project.
Horne says that too often, after a government agency has acquired a piece of property through eminent domain, citing public use of the property, it is turned over to private developers.
Senator Terry Care has a Senate bill heading for the Assembly that targets a single effort by Washoe County to take the Ballardini Ranch from a development company and turn it into a regional park. Although Care's legislation will affect possible future endeavors, it is specifically designed to stop the park project.
In Reno, the threat of eminent domain hangs over virtually every effort by the so-called redevelopment districts. The city has just proposed another redevelopment district, this one to incorporate what is already a wonderfully developed arts district along a stretch of California Avenue. Property owners and business operators are not particularly pleased with the effort.
Stretching from Virginia Street on the east to Arlington Avenue on the west, the several blocks feature coffeehouses, restaurants, delis, cocktail lounges, yoga galleries, and the Nevada Art Museum. The property owners The Nevada Observer talked with say the only thing the city should do is enforce traffic laws. Speeders and those who refuse to accept the fact that pedestrians have a right to cross a road are the most important things in their minds.
There is major road construction work taking place on many of the side streets off California Avenue at this time and congested traffic makes it difficult to park or try to cross the busy street.
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