Eminent Domain in Connecticut

<i>Should the Supreme Court Allow Public Taking for Private Development?</i>
The Supreme Court recently heard a case on the limits of eminent domain and the rights of individuals to be safe from having their land seized and sold to another private concern.  The land is not stolen, but is appraised and "Fair Market Value" is given for the land.  In this case a town in Connecticut wanted to entice a drug manufacturer into expanding its presence and build a new facility.  As part of the enticement, the town condemned a neighborhood so that it could be knocked down and a new community could be built.  Some of the owners in the neighborhood are fighting the taking on Constitutional Ground.  The Court has yet to rule. 

Land has always been treated under law as a special type of property, and typically equal cash value is not enough. The law recognizes that people have ties to land beyond simply the dollar value. Saying that they were duly compensated at the "Fair Market Value" should not be enough when the taking is simply for a private development.

In this case, the developer could have purchased the land individually from the home owners like any other developer. If the price was high enough, I imagine they would have all sold, regardless of ties to the neighborhood. The condemnation merely saved money for the Corporate developer at the expense of citizens.

Examples such as railroads and Power lines did not typically take entire neighborhoods away. They would take a small portion or right-of-way, but the land owner kept the majority of the land. Other takings like the WTC were developments by Government Entities, even if the actual developer was not. This Connecticut case seems to be especially egregious in its scope and purpose.

I also think it is a good argument that if economic development is a good enough reason to take any land, no land is safe. Having no floor leaves us all at risk of a developer selling growth to the community at your expense. It also seems like a good way for a community to get rid of "undesirable" neighbors by gutting all the poor neighborhoods and replacing them with Home Depot.

The previous standard of blight seems to meet the competing interests of community development and private property.