Missouri Eminent Domain Abuse Coalition

Sign The Petitions To Stop Eminent Domain Abuse In MO

The 2006 Eminent Domain Bill (Missouri House Bill #1944) did not end eminent domain abuse in the state of Missouri.  Private property is still being taken for private use in Missouri. 

The solution is an initiative petition to change the Missouri Constitution. Missouri Citizens for Property Rights, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting property rights, is supporting an effort to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot for 2008.

Click here to find out how you can sign the petition and help out to protect property rights for all Missourians

Dentist Homer Tourkakis Fights To Save His Practice

In January, Dentist Homer Tourkakis took his eminent domain abuse case to court. The City of Arnold and the developers of Arnold Commons are trying to condemn his dental practice at 1506 Big Bill Road to replace it with a shopping center…and he is fighting it.  In his case, Tourkakis is challenging:

• Whether a 3^rd class city has the legal right to use eminent domain to take private property for commercial development
• Whether the property is blighted

Also, no offer to purchase the property was made before condemnation proceedings were initiated.  When an offer was made it was “too little too late”.  The presiding judge, Judge Williams, commented that the price of $343,750 seemed “inadequate” for relocating and replacing a dental office.

The Threat of Eminent Domain Abuse in Bohemian Hills

In January 2007, property owners in Bohemian Hills (southwest corner of Lafayette and Tucker) received letters from the St. Louis Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority requesting to purchase their properties.  Property owners and MEDAC, concerned that their property rights may be abused, placed a mural on the side of one of the buildings in  Bohemian Hills.  It is circular and contains the words "End Eminent Domain Abuse" with a diagonal red line drawn through it and can be seen from Interstates 44 and 55, Gravois Avenue, Russell Boulevard and 12th Street.

Actions by the St. Louis Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority highlight the shortcomings of Missouri House Bill #1944 which is supposed to have ended eminent domain abuse in Missouri.  Although the bill does protect farmland, it fails to protect property owners in urban settings.  The Bohemian Hills neighborhood is an example that eminent domain abuse still exists.

Although the City of St. Louis would like the mural to come down its visibility is attracting a lot of interest and traffic.

The April 17, 2007 issue of the Southside City Journal ran an article on the sign.

Update on Condemnation in Clayton

The April 24th edition of the Post-Dispath reports that Clayton and Centene cannot use eminent domain to take property from three business owners:

An appellate court ruled this morning that Centene Plaza Redevelopment Corp. should be barred from using condemnation to acquire properties in the heart of Clayton for its $210-million twin towers, office and retail complex.

In an unsigned opinion, Judges Clifford H. Ahrens, Mary K. Hoff and Nannette Baker of the Missouri Court of Appeals stopped short of pulling the economic plug on the project and overruling a lower court decision authorizing condemnation.

The judge has sent the case on to the Missouri Supreme Court.