果酱视频

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in 果酱视频 County Circuit Court against Brentwood, challenges the redevelopment plan approved by the city this summer, which called for blighting the corridor along Manchester Road between Mary Avenue and Hanley Road.

The Institute for Justice, an Arlington, Va.-based libertarian public interest law firm that litigated the landmark eminent domain case Kelo v. New London at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005, filed the lawsuit on behalf of three small businesses and a property owner along Manchester Road.

鈥淚鈥檓 not suing for money, there鈥檚 no gain here. I鈥檓 suing on behalf of other people that this could happen to,鈥� said one of the plaintiffs, Martin George, who along with his brother owns the building at 8307 Manchester Road where Feather-Craft Fly Fishing is located. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 pick blight and just willy-nilly throw it around like a drunkard. You can鈥檛 do that. I鈥檓 willing to fight for other people who can鈥檛 fight.鈥�

Under Missouri law, local governments must declare areas blighted before using eminent domain to acquire property for redevelopment. After the Kelo decision, Missouri, like most states around the country, passed several laws intended to tighten how and when governments could use eminent domain to acquire private property.

One of the laws Missouri passed post-Kelo says blighting designations need 鈥渟ubstantial evidence鈥� and another says property can鈥檛 be acquired via eminent domain for 鈥渟olely economic development purposes.鈥� The lawsuit against Brentwood says the city violated both.

鈥淲e think this is a very important fight to have,鈥� said Jaimie Cavanaugh, the Institute for Justice attorney handling the case. 鈥淲e want to test these statutes in states that said we want to make our laws stricter in light of the Kelo decision. We want to make sure that those changes actually meant something.鈥�

Over the last five years, Brentwood and the Missouri Department of Transportation have poured $120 million into the area. Some of that money paid for road and sidewalk improvements along Manchester Road and rebuilding the bridge over Black Creek at Hanley Road, turning Manchester Road into a dead end for months.

But the bulk of the money was spent to tame flooding issues from Deer Creek, which has long plagued businesses along that low-lying stretch of Manchester Road after heavy rains. Brentwood bought out several commercial and industrial buildings 鈥� sometimes resorting to eminent domain 鈥� and removed tons of earth around the creek to give it more room.

With that work mostly complete, the city last year turned its attention to redeveloping the district of mostly low-density industrial and commercial buildings. It approved a redevelopment plan and tapped developer Green Street 果酱视频 for the project, which the company pitched as a $400 million, mixed-use revamp of the area into apartments and restaurants.

Part of the lawsuit鈥檚 argument is that Brentwood lacks evidence that the corridor remains blighted after more than $100 million in public investment in the area. And it argues that some property and business owners deferred some investments until the yearslong construction project along Manchester Road wrapped up.

鈥淭o the extent that any of the conditions in the Manchester Corridor have declined (and Plaintiffs are not admitting any conditions have declined), Brentwood鈥檚 actions caused such decline,鈥� the lawsuit says.

And, Cavanaugh said, the lawsuit challenges the lack of specificity in Brentwood鈥檚 blight designation. It includes what she called 鈥渧ague鈥� details, including a claim that five of the properties are 鈥渋nsanitary or unsafe,鈥� one of the criteria in the state鈥檚 blighting definition. However, she said, Brentwood鈥檚 report doesn鈥檛 list those properties, so challengers can鈥檛 even determine if, for instance, the properties are owned by the city. Brentwood will own about half of the corridor鈥檚 properties, according to the blight study.

鈥淭he blight study itself, if you look at it, it doesn鈥檛 have concrete evidence of problems that relate to the whole corridor,鈥� Cavanaugh said.

Missouri鈥檚 statutory blighting definition is based on broad requirements, such as physical conditions and conditions that constitute an 鈥渆conomic or social liability.鈥� The state courts have not clearly explained them, said Daniel Mandelker, a retired Washington University law school professor and a nationally respected expert on land use law. But Missouri courts have tended to defer to local governments, he said.

鈥淐ourts have usually been receptive to blight designations because they鈥檙e legislative actions entitled to a presumption of validity,鈥� Mandelker said.

Caught off guard

Business and building owners told the Post-Dispatch last summer they were caught off guard by the redevelopment plan and specter of eminent domain.

鈥淲e were hoping that all the construction and everything that they were doing would make things better for us,鈥� said Amy Stanford, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit and co-owner of Time for Dinner, a pre-packaged meal business. 鈥淲e certainly didn鈥檛 think they were gonna pull the rug out from under us.鈥�

Brentwood Mayor David Dimmitt said the city had not yet seen the petition and declined to comment.

But Brentwood leaders have said they were always upfront about long-term plans for redevelopment following the flood mitigation work in the area. And Green Street, the designated developer, has said it doesn鈥檛 want to use eminent domain but that it is a necessary tool if a developer hopes to assemble a large swath of contiguous property for a major redevelopment.

鈥淥bviously no developer ever wants to use eminent domain,鈥� Green Street鈥檚 head of development, Joel Oliver, said at a Brentwood redevelopment board meeting last summer. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a pain in the butt. It鈥檚 expensive. It makes people unhappy. But it is an incentive that鈥檚 on the table.鈥�

Green Street CEO Phil Hulse could not immediately be reached for comment.

Another plaintiff, Carter Maier, who co-owns Convergence Dance and Body Center with his wife, Roxanne Maier, said the couple was very supportive of the Manchester Road and flood mitigation work until they realized their business would have to move to make way for Green Street鈥檚 project. The city isn鈥檛 planning to use eminent domain to build a highway or other public infrastructure, he said.

鈥淭his is something that鈥檚 bigger than us and we really need to do what we can to rectify it,鈥� Maier said. 鈥淭his is for private development, that鈥檚 what we really have a problem with.鈥�