Eminent Domain in the News

July 1, 2021

Axley Attorney Sara Beachy comments on an eminent domain issue involving Foxconn and a local business in a recent article in the Journal Times.

“Redevelopment and blight designations allow a municipality to finance a redevelopment project by issuing bonds. The bonds, exempt from state and federal taxes, could save a municipality millions. In addition, these designations pave the way for the use of eminent domain to acquire the properties needed for the Foxconn project.”

“Foxconn was never an ordinary redevelopment,” Beachy said in an interview. “I’m not aware of any other proposed redevelopment — anywhere — that involved so much overpromising by an international corporation, such massive state subsidies and such overwhelming outside influence.”

Beachy continued: “The train left the station when Scott Walker made this deal back in 2017. Local officials at all levels made decisions in reliance on that deal, and it’s hard to turn the train around now.”

Read more here.