"Not For Sale!" - That was our exclamation from 2002 till now, but unfortunately when it comes to forced sale in designated redevelopment areas in the New Jersey city of Long Branch, you might as well say; "take whatever you want from me, and don't compensate me!"
Our church owned building once was 162 Broadway in the depressed downtown area of Long Branch. We bought it in 1994 when the downtown area was really "needy." So needy, that the only folks congregating there were "needy." Perfect place for a church run for 'Needy people." We took on the enormous undertaking in a political community with meager funds and a whole bunch of faith in God Almighty. We never lost the faith, we just lost the building. I have expressed much of the facts previously and made it pretty clear that the New Jersey statutes make property worthless, when a local government decides to take it from you.
Friday, in a court of law we had another go around with the funds the city had to place on deposit when they filed their affadavit of taking last May 2008. We seem to be finally over the hurdles in the county court, we had to prematurely and with no way to negotiate payments of our debts, pay off all the liens on the property. Now that everyone has their money, one would expect we would get ours. Especially when the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution tells us all, Just compensation shall be paid when you and before you use eminent domain.
Well the city took possession of title May 29, 2008. The transferred it over to the designated developer shortly there after... so they have what they wanted - even though it was against our will! Yet we still do not have a replacement property, nor the money the city gave to the State at that time. The State has it and will most likely keep it even longer as we now have to apply to the State Treasurer for our money. What can I say, we are virtually "out of business" with no continued support or revenue since we were made to leave the building we occupied close to a year ago. This is as close to hell, as I would have ever expected to experience while a Christian minister and on the earth.
I don't mean to cry too much here, I know there are people out there in worse situations and circumstances than we, even me. Yet, I expected the american way of life to be honored and the intent of the founding fathers of this once Great Nation, to be some type of plumb line in all matters pertaining to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness and right to own land. Add to that the right for the church to exist free of government interference!
God have mercy.
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Your experience with eminent domain sounds fairly typical. Speaking as someone actually fighting eminent domain in federal court (Johnstown, PA) with Houston-based Spectra Energy, I can confirm that, nowadays, eminent domain has less to do with projects for the "public good," and everything to do with the financial good of publicly held companies.
In our case, the "badge" of government that permits the taking is held by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
Spectra Energy is in the process of seizing property rights in Bedford County, PA (about 2 hours from Washington DC), for an underground gas storage project that will boost the company's ROI.
In the meantime, that property (owned by many landowners) sits on top of the gas-rich Marcellus shale. The storage project will prevent property owners from the exploration and recovery of any other gas layer.
Here, the government's definition of "public good" is that another gas storage cavity is needed in a state that already has more than any other state in the continental US.
Meanwhile, storing gas is deemed more important than property owners' ability to recover new gas for our nation's energy independence. For information on this aspect of eminent domain, check out our website, including the landowner video & blog postings: http://www.spectraenergywatch.com/blog/
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