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by Joe Cornely

Legislation is pending that would buy time for Ohio property owners who are now at risk from recently expanded government powers to take private land.

Current Ohio law can not prevent government from using a new type of eminent domain power, according to state Sen. Tim Grendell. The Chesterland Republican told Buckeye Farm News he is preparing a bill to prevent short-term abuse while looking for a long-term solution. The bill "would establish an 18-month moratorium that would prohibit the taking of unblighted property by any governmental entity for ultimate ownership by a private entity." He added, "The same bill would create a 24 person study committee, which will include Farm Bureau, to study the best way to permanently address the Kelo decision."

Legislation is needed because of this summer’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in the now infamous "Kelo" case. The court broadened the definition of the term "public use", explained Larry Gearhardt, OFBF’s director of local affairs. "Public use now includes economic development for public purposes," he said. "If a government authority believes your property has the potential to boost tax revenues or create jobs, they can take it from you and hand it over to a developer or other private owner."

Farm Bureau members traditionally have fought against abuse of eminent domain powers. According to Gearhardt, "There is a tremendous amount of research going on to determine how we fix this problem. The United States Supreme Court opened the door by suggesting that the problem could be fixed in the state legislatures."

Grendell, a real estate lawyer for 20 years, said there are three ways Ohio can react to the Kelo ruling. "You could do nothing and let these things be hammered out at the local level, which I think is very dangerous from a property rights perspective because some communities might be overly aggressive in taking private property. You can make statutory changes but then you get into this discussion of whether or not it’s a general law which would override the home-rule powers of cities and villages and that would be left up to the courts, which is also somewhat open ended. The third choice is to do a constitutional amendment in Ohio to make it clear that you can’t take unblighted private property for ultimate private ownership."

Other alternatives may be flushed out at the national level. OFBF is cooperating with the American Farm Bureau Federation’s legal research program to explore alternatives. "AFBF will create model state legislation to help states that wish to move toward stronger property protection laws," said Paul Schlegel of the AFBF staff.

Grendell said he believes it’s important for property rights advocates to work together on the issue. Gearhardt thinks that will happen. "This is going to take some time to shake out and come up with a definite plan, some definite language. I can tell you this decision has caused a tremendous amount of activity to occur, and I believe there is a focus now to fix this issue," Gearhardt said.