Real Estate & Property Law

Indiana Dunes Fight

By Alan Ackerman

The linked article does a wonderful job explaining the emotions and issue involved in the contemplated Indiana dunes expansion.
    
The dunes are something special to people around Lake Michigan, not only in Indiana, but also on much of the Michigan coastline.  They offer a phenomenal amenity, sometimes having a potential for extraction and at the least increase values of properties nearby.  The article is well worth reading.

post-trib.com

A 1966 bill creating the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore prevented property owners such as Sims from condemnation provided the municipality's zoning was approved by the federal government. Town residents pushed for the zoning, which was approved in 1975.

Still skeptical, Sims applied for a certificate of noncondemnation from the government. Officials stalled. Sims stubbornly insisted. After six months of weekly phone calls, he got his document. Among a handful of applicants, Sims was the only one who got a certificate.

But less than a year later, Congress changed its mind and allowed condemnation. Sims couldn't believe it.

"I was flabbergasted. I thought, I felt used. And I was used," he said. "The certificate of condemnation, what good is it? They didn't even acknowledge it. They didn't even acknowledge they took anything away from me."

Under the new law, an independent appraiser would assess the fair market value of the property. If homeowners weren't willing to sell within a certain amount of time, the Park Service could acquire the property by eminent domain and have a court determine the price.

Sims said an acquisition officer from the park initially offered him $18,000.

Full post as published by National Eminent Domain Blog on August 12, 2010 (boomark / email).