01/22/2007
NFIB's Legal Foundation fights to protect small-business private property rights
CONTACT: Melissa Sharp, (202) 554-9000
Washington, D.C.--The National Federation of Independent Business Legal Foundation is once again fighting to protect the property rights of small-business owners from a local municipality's abuse of their eminent domain authority.
The dispute involves a commercial property owned by BMIA, LLC in Belmar, New Jersey. BMIA has been fighting to keep its property, the Belmar Mall, from being condemned for a redevelopment project. The Belmar Mall is a commercial center that contains 20 mom-and-pop businesses, along with three major chain tenants, Rite Aid, Curves for Women and West Marine.
To help ensure that condemnation of the property would be possible, the city of Belmar conducted a study, which determined that the downtown property was "an area in need of redevelopment." This designation was the first step in instituting eminent domain proceedings. The municipality's "area in need" designation was based on a determination that .34 acres of the 15-acre site, or 2 percent, was in a state of blight.
NFIB filed an amicus brief with the Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate Division urging the court to find that the municipality's determination lacks sufficient evidence, arguing that finding 2 percent of a 15-acre site in need of redevelopment is insufficient to condemn the entire property.
"It is important that the Court understand the detrimental effect this decision would have on small businesses," said Elizabeth Gaudio, senior executive counsel of NFIB's Legal Foundation. "This case highlights the injustices that property owners, including many small-business owners, face when it comes to battling a local government's liberal interpretation of blight."
The use of eminent domain has been taken up by many local governments, such as the defendants in the present case, as a way to 'redevelop' or 'rebuild' their areas for the purpose of generating additional property and sales tax revenue. This abusive trend has millions of small businesses and homeowners at risk of losing their property because others want to redevelop an area.
"Small-business owners who become victims of eminent domain abuse are at risk of losing both their property and their business," said Gaudio. "When a government is successful in taking a small-business owner's property the consequences are severe. Businesses aren't compensated for the value of their business or for the costs associated with relocating the business, finding new employees and attracting new customers. They are only compensated for the value of their property, which is entirely unjust."
The present case is BMIA, LLC v. Planning Board of the Borough of Belmar et al, docket number A-005974-05T5.
