THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 28, 1996 TAG: 9608280004
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 55 lines
The right of the government to acquire private property for public use is a necessary but restricted power of the U.S. Constitution.
Were it not for this power of the state, our highways would zig-zag continually, and water and sewer lines could not exist.
But government is not allowed to simply seize property. It must demonstrate a need for the land and compensate the landowners fairly.
The right of a city to condemn blighted property for rehabilitation, redevelopment or economic development is not as entrenched in law.
In Virginia, the General Assembly passed legislation allowing all cities and counties to establish redevelopment authorities with the power to condemn blighted property. All it takes to activate such an authority is voter approval during a referendum.
Virginia Beach is one of the few cities in the commonwealth without a redevelopment and housing authority - but it seems closer now than ever to establishing one. City Council will decide during the next two weeks whether to put the question to voters in November.
Council is right to put the establishment of such an authority on the ballot, and the voters should approve it.
The creation of a redevelopment authority gives local government a powerful tool, which when used fairly - and rarely - can improve the lives of its citizens. Virginia Beach needs such an authority - remembering that along with this new power comes an awesome responsibility to its poorest citizens.
State law allows cities to condemn property only under very strict conditions - foremost among the requirements is that the property must already be blighted; that is, made up of unsafe or unsanitary dwellings.
Supporters of a Virginia Beach redevelopment authority argue that the city is becoming financially stagnant and land poor. It will remain that way, they say, until the city has the power to take private land for the public good.
Detractors argue that the ``blighted'' land that will be condemned will naturally be in the city's poorest neighborhoods where one man's blight is another man's castle.
A case in point is Burton Station, an aging, primarily black, Virginia Beach neighborhood near Norfolk International Airport. For several years city officials have been buying up the property there, with the intention of developing another industrial park in this choice location. Many of the property owners accepted the city's offers and sold their houses. Others have refused.
With a housing and redevelopment authority, Burton Station might be deemed blighted and condemned by the city. Unfortunately, Burton Station is a place some people call home. Their parents and grandparents struggled mightily to buy their land and they don't want to move.
Therein lies the rub: the right of the community, however small and poor, pitted against the city, which is pursuing the larger good.
A redevelopment and housing authority would be an essential addition to Virginia Beach. It would also impose a weighty responsibility upon City Hall. by CNB