With my last post I spoke about numerous proposed legislative changes to the New Jersey eminent domain statute and the fact that none of the proposals had made it through committee. Now it seems the New Jersey Legislature is finally ready to approve changes to the existing eminent domain law. According to Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Essex) the new bill will, among other things, limit the use of property taken for use in private development. For more on this please see http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/after_years_of_negotiation_bet.html.
United States Supreme Court enters eminent domain debate..........again
When the United States Supreme Court made its ruling in Kelo, et al. v. City of New London, et al. on June 23, 2005 it sent seismic reverberations throughout the eminent domain community. Now just four years later the Court has accepted another eminent domain case for review. However, this time the Court is not reviewing an affirmative decision to take property, but instead is reviewing the effect of a state statute on existing property rights.
At issue in Walton County, et al. v. Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc., et al. is whether implementation of Florida's Beach and Shore Preservation Act, cited as Florida Statutes Chapter 161, Part I (2005), results in a taking without just compensation. This question surrounds Florida Department of Environmental Protection's establishment of a new erosion control line (ECL) in its beach renourishment activities after past hurricanes where the new ECL relocates a property owner's existing property line. The Florida Supreme Court decided no taking occurred based on a confusing historical review of littoral and riparian property owner rights.
Stay tuned for more on this case as the result will have long term effects on owners with land adjacent to water bodies not only in Florida and New Jersey, but throughout the country.
Steven E. Taylor
Taylor Law Firm, LLC
http://www.tlf-llc.com/
