Real Estate & Property Law

OP-ED Views on the Poletown Plant

By Alan Ackerman

Articles written by Jason Adkins and John Mogk offer a harsh conflict as to the reality of what happened with Poletown.

In 1980-81, the City of Detroit acquired land to rush in the construction of a General Motors assembly plant within the Detroit City limits.  In the Poletown eminent domain proceeding, the City stated that the condemnation was premised upon economic need of the community as a whole during a high unemployment period.

At that time, much of the City of Detroit was blighted.  Acquiring in order to remove blight remains a valid reason for the taking of property for a public use.  Given the present situation, the City has the opportunity to build another assembly plant by simply utilizing the blight removal standard.  In reality, the comments by Mr. Mogk and Mr. Adkins may be an irrelevancy in the present urban reality.

Read more: Detroit still needs eminent domain | freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Like most states, Michigan's land property law continues to be based upon a complex bundle of property rights established in England after the Norman conquest of 1066. Every lot in Detroit potentially has many stakeholders that include the title holder, tenants, easement holders, mortgage and lien holders.

Without eminent domain, each has to be dealt with separately. Many are difficult to locate, and many will ask for exorbitant payouts or refuse to sell. Even a few holdouts could end a project.

This isn't widely understood because the 2006 amendment allows eminent domain to be used to acquire "blighted" property. But here's the catch: It requires that blight be proved separately on each private parcel, and leaves the city powerless to do anything with small occupied parcels. No longer can the city declare a 90% vacant area blighted and acquire all of the land.

Corporations understand the importance of land acquisition logistics in deciding where to locate. As the economy retools, and the nation and state gear up for a major new wave of manufacturing, Detroit will be left out.

The state's eminent domain provision needs to be reexamined for distressed urban areas if Detroit is to rebuild.


Read more: Poletown plant is not worth repeating | freep.com | Detroit Free Press     

Detroit has gained nothing from the plant. Only half the promised 6,500 jobs ever materialized. There is substantial evidence that the project actually resulted in a net economic loss for the city.

By contrast, 1,500 homes, 144 businesses and 16 churches were bulldozed to make way for the plant.

Urban redevelopment schemes like Poletown are not the answer to economic growth. Instead, Detroit should remove barriers to development such as high taxes, fees and red tape.

Only then will it have the renewal it so desperately needs.

Full post as published by National Eminent Domain Blog on August 10, 2010 (boomark / email).