In “189 Hawaii properties in transit’s path,” the Honolulu Advertiser’s Sean Hao writes about the potential use of eminent domain to take private property along the path of Honolulu’s proposed $4B rail transit project:
Some landowners in the path of the new rail line, who may havelittle choice but to sell to the city, are not pleased with thepotential eviction and complain that the process so far has left themin the dark.
The city, which has budgeted $70 million to purchaseland needed to build the rail system, will offer property owners fairmarket value for their land based on an appraisal. That could provecontroversial as some owners challenge the appraised value.
The article notes that the City’s web site has listed these properties for more than a year, but the information is difficult to locate, so many of the owners were not aware their properties may be acquired. The amount the City has budgeted — $70 million — may be an unrealistic estimate:
Fighting the city on property condemnation is not easy. Because masstransit serves a public purpose, there’s little preventing the cityfrom acquiring property needed to build it, said Robert Thomas,managing attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation’s Hawaii Center,which lobbies for property owner rights. The U.S. Constitution allowslocal government to take private property if there is a compellingpublic interest in doing so.
“Right now, it looks like thechances of a fight on whether they can take this land is prettyremote,” Thomas said. “There’s very little standing in the way.”
Oncethe acquisition process starts, the city will determine the fair marketvalue for properties and offer to pay owners that amount, the citysaid. If landowners refuse to sell, the city may condemn the property.
Thekey battles between property owners and the city will be over whatconstitutes fair value for the lands being acquired, Thomas said. Thatdecision will hinge on when the property assessments are made.
“Thecritical piece in the puzzle is, when are we valuing this?” he said.”The owner could claim a higher valuation, if it’s an earlier date,especially if it’s a slightly declining market.” However, “If oureconomy is going the way people think it’s going, then property valuesare going down, which could benefit the city’s acquisition prices,”Thomas added.
Read the complete Advertiser article (plus reader comments) here.
In a similar vein, last year, UH Law professor David Callies, Honoluluattorney Vernon Woo, and I were guests on Jay Fidell’s KHPR program onthe topic of Honolulu rail, and the development and land use issuessure to surround the project. Audio of the show is available here.