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Eminent domain conference committee to consider several controversial issues this week Page 1 of 2 INFORMATION iii e ~ u~.~. ~ din 6NCI NE EUITYVN Eminent domain conference committee to consider several controversial issues this week Issue 13 Published: May 2, 2006 By Laura Harris The conference committee on HF 2846 /SF_2750, the eminent domain reform legislation, met last Friday to adopt various technical changes to the House and Senate language and consider identical and similar provisions in the two bills. Conferees adopted an amendment offered by Sen. Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook) that included several technical changes and limited the new public notice and hearing requirements to takings for blight mitigation, contamination remediation, the reduction of abandoned property, and the removal of a public nuisance. The conference committee also adopted several definitions, including the Senate language on "abandoned property" and "blighted area," and the Senate definition of "structurally substandard" minus the provision allowing the acquisition of a building that is "unsafe or lacking in basic equipment." Members discussed the House and Senate provisions providing access to structurally substandard buildings, but did not reach an agreement on final language. The threshold determining environmental contamination was the subject of lengthy discussion. Both bills define "environmentally contaminated area" as an area where more than 50 percent of the parcels contain contamination and where the cost of clean up exceeds 100 percent of the estimated market value of the parcel. The city of Columbia Heights offered testimony that all but one of the parcels in the city's 30-acre industrial redevelopment project would not meet the 100 percent cost threshold as defined in the House and Senate bills. A Senate motion to set both thresholds at 75 percent failed to pass. However, the committee agreed that further discussion regarding the various provisions related to contamination is needed. Conferees took testimony on a few other issues, including the provisions regulating the extraterritorial use of eminent domain, requiring compensation for removal of a legal nonconforming use, and requiring contested-case proceedings to determine relocation assistance. A motion to adopt the Senate language on the nonconforming use provision failed to pass. Action on the other two provisions is expected at the next meeting. Reo. Jeff Johnson (R-Plymouth) indicated that Reo. Ron Abrams (R-Minnetonka) and Sen. Julianne Ortman (R-Chanhassen) would lead a working group that will meet sometime this week to discuss effective-date issues. Sen. Bakk announced the full conference committee would likely meet again the middle of this week to consider several substantive issues, including the standard of proof, payment of attorney fees, and compensation for loss of going concern. http://www.lmnc.org/bulletin/story.efin?id=1147&title_id=1 5/3/2006