In response to the trend of government entities “taking” land by eminent domain and transferring it to private developers, Edgewater Colorado has updated its city charter.
The citizens have adopted an update that will in effect double “just compensation” paid to a property owned under eminent domain, if the property is used for private development within 10 years of the “taking”.
In effect, if the city wants or needs private land for public infrastructure, it’s eminent domain as usual. But the new charter is written to eliminate incentives for the city to acquire private property by eminent domain and transfer/lease/sell it to private developers.
Edgewater has no property being threatened by eminent domain and has not used the eminent domain process for twenty years. This is more of an insurance policy for the future protection of all Edgewater Colorado property owners.
Wikipedia paints a somewhat bleak economic picture of Edgewater. Only time will tell whether this is a beneficial move for the city of Edgewater and its property owners.
To view the entire new charter, visit the Edgewater Colorado website. For your convenience, we have provided just the eminent domain provisions of Edgewater's new charter HERE.
Comments