Eminent Domain Columbia Expansion
A summary of columbia expansion that doesn t mention eminent domain i m an alum of columbia university llm 1995 so i m on the list to receive the semi regular emails sent out by the law school and the alumni association informing me about a recent faculty hire or containing the latest plea to enhance the endowment.
Eminent domain columbia expansion. We the undersigned object to the use of eminent domain in the columbia university expansion plan. The columbia decision is the first thing that s happened in new york that suggests the threat of a change in our eminent domain law said kathryn s. First manhattanville is not a blighted community and eminent domain is not needed to stimulate economic development or to eliminate blight.
Wylde chief executive of the. The court of appeals overturned a lower court ruling that barred the state from using its power of eminent domain to take private property in the. Columbia had ruled out using eminent domain for residential properties.
The narrow columbia decision is bound to be appealed to the state s highest court the court of appeals. On june 1 at the new york state court of appeals in albany the empire state development corporation will appeal the surprise december court ruling that declared the use of eminent domain for columbia s manhattanville expansion illegal according to the court of appeals website. Court upholds columbia campus expansion plan.
While columbia owns most of the land within the campus expansion footprint it has asked new york s empire state development corporation to declare the area blighted to clear the way for eminent domain acquisition of the remaining lots. In may of that year the corporation had approved columbia s plan for the area which it characterised as blighted. Second the columbia plan has been developer driven and developed principally to benefit columbia.