Norwood, Ohio
One of the big stories last year that galvanized the right side of the blogosphere was the Supreme Court's Kelo v. New London decision. The battle continues today in Ohio (via AP):

Joy and Carl Gamble say they just want to retire peacefully in the dream home where they've lived for more than 35 years. But the Cincinnati suburb of Norwood has other plans for the property.

Using its power of eminent domain, the city wants to take a neighborhood that it considers to be deteriorating and boost its fortunes by allowing a $125 million development of offices and shops.

Lawyers on both sides planned to make their case to the Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday in the first challenge of property rights laws to reach a state high court since the U.S. Supreme Court last summer allowed municipalities to seize homes for use by a private developer.

"It is our home, what's ours is ours, and it should be that way," Joy Gamble told a rally Wednesday morning before the hearing. "It was a home worth fighting for, and we do want it back."

January 11, 2006

§ 303.26. Definitions.
 

  
   
 

As used in sections 303.26 to 303.56, inclusive, of the Revised Code, unless a different meaning is clearly indicated by the context: 

 
   
 

(A) "Municipality" means any incorporated city or village of the state. 

 
 
   
 

(B) "Public body" means the state, any county, municipality, township, board, commission, authority, district, or other subdivision. 

 
   
 
 

(C) "Federal government" means the United States or any agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise thereof. 

 
   
 

(D) "Slum area" means an area within a county but outside the corporate limits of any municipality, in which area there is a predominance of buildings or improvements, whether residential or nonresidential, which by reason of dilapidation, deterioration, age or obsolescence, inadequate provisions for ventilation, light, air, sanitation, or open spaces, high density of population and overcrowding, or the existence of conditions which endanger life or property, by fire and other causes, or any combination of such factors is conducive to ill health, transmission of disease, infant mortality, juvenile delinquency, or crime, and is detrimental to the public health, safety, morals, or welfare. 

 
   
 

(E) "Blighted area" means an area within a county but outside the corporate limits of any municipality, which are by reason of the presence of a substantial number of slum, deteriorated, or deteriorating structures, predominance of defective or inadequate street layout, faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility, or usefulness, insanitary or unsafe conditions, deterioration of site or other improvements, diversity of ownership, tax or special assessment delinquency exceeding the fair value of the land, defective or unusual conditions to title, or the existence of conditions which endanger life or property by fire and other causes, or any combination of such factors, substantially impairs or arrests the sound growth of a county, retards the provision of housing accommodations, or constitutes an economic or social liability and is a menace to the public health, safety, morals, or welfare in its present condition and use. 

 
   
 

If such blighted area consists of open land, the provisions of section 303.34 of the Revised Code shall apply. 

 
   
 

Any disaster area referred to in section 303.36 of the Revised Code shall constitute a "blighted area." 

 
   
 

(F) "County renewal project" may include undertakings and activities of a county in a county renewal area for the elimination and for the prevention of the development or spread of slums and blight, and may involve slum clearance and redevelopment in a county renewal area, or rehabilitation or conservation in a county renewal area, or any combination or part thereof, in accordance with a county renewal plan, and such aforesaid undertakings and activities may include acquisition of a slum area or a blighted area, or portion thereof; demolition and removal of buildings and improvements; installation, construction, or reconstruction of streets, utilities, parks, playgrounds, and other improvements necessary for carrying out in the county renewal area the county renewal objectives of sections 303.26 to 303.56, inclusive, of the Revised Code in accordance with the county renewal plan; disposition of any property acquired in the county renewal area, including sale, initial leasing, or retention by the county itself, at its fair value for uses in accordance with the county renewal plan; carrying out plans for a program of voluntary or compulsory repair and rehabilitation of buildings or other improvements in accordance with the county renewal plan; and acquisition of any other real property in the county renewal area where necessary to eliminate unhealthful, insanitary, or unsafe conditions; lessen density, eliminate obsolete, or other uses detrimental to the public welfare, or otherwise to remove or prevent the spread of blight or deterioration, or to provide land for needed public facilities. 

 
   
 

(G) "County renewal area" means a slum area or a blighted area or a combination thereof which the board of county commissioners designates as appropriate for a county renewal project. 

 
   
 

(H) "County renewal plan" means a plan, as it exists from time to time, for a county renewal project, which plan shall conform to the general plan for the county, except as provided in section 303.36 of the Revised Code, and shall be sufficiently complete to indicate such land acquisition, demolition, and removal of structures, redevelopment, improvements, and rehabilitation as may be proposed to be carried out in the county renewal area, zoning, and planning changes, if any, land uses, maximum densities, building requirements, and the plan's relationship to definite local objectives respecting appropriate land uses, improved traffic, public transportation, public utilities, recreational and community facilities, and other public improvements. 

 
   
 

(I) "Redevelopment" and derivatives thereof, when used with respect to a county renewal area, mean development as well as redevelopment. 

 
   
 

(J) "Real property" includes all lands, including improvements and fixtures thereon, and property of any nature appurtenant thereto, or used in connection therewith, and every estate, interest, right, and use, legal or equitable, therein, including terms for years and liens by way of judgment, mortgage, or otherwise. 

 
   
 

(K) "Person" means any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, joint stock association, or body politic, and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee, or other person acting in a similar representative capacity. 

 
   
 

(L) "Obligee" includes any bondholder, agents, or trustees for any bondholders, or lessor demising to the county property used in connection with a county renewal project, or any assignee or assignees of such lessor's interest or any part thereof, and the federal government when it is a party to any contract with the county. 

 
   
 

(M) "Bond," as used in section 303.46 of the Revised Code, means bonds, including refunding bonds, notes, interim certificates of special indebtedness, debentures, or other obligations of a county, payable and secured as authorized by section 303.46 of the Revised Code. 
 

  
   
 
 

HISTORY: 128 v 1254. Eff 10-21-59.

 

  

§ 303.38. Right of eminent domain.
 

  
 
   
 
 

Every board of county commissioners may acquire by eminent domain any interest in real property, whether owned privately or publicly, including a fee simple title thereto, which it determines necessary for or in connection with a county renewal project within the county, and this power may be exercised in the manner provided in section 307.08 of the Revised Code, or it may be exercised in the manner now or which may be hereafter provided by any other statutory provisions for the exercise of the power of eminent domain by boards of county commissioners. Real property belonging to the United States, the state of Ohio, or any political subdivision of the state, or municipalities shall not be acquired under this section without its consent. 
 

  
 
   
 
 

HISTORY: 128 v 1254. Eff 10-21-59.