12.03.09
By Joan Gralla
[suggested by Caroline]
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York state court ruled on Thursday that the state cannot seize land Columbia University wants for a $6.3 billion expansion of its campus in northern Manhattan.
The Appellate Division rebuked the Ivy League university for partly creating the blight in West Harlem that was then used to justify the state's use of the power of eminent domain to wrest 17 acres, located in one of New York City's poorest neighborhoods, from the property owners.
A copy of the decision by the mid-level appeals court was posted by The New York Times on its website.
The decision contrasts with a ruling by the state's highest court last month that found the state could take land for the $4 billion Atlantic Yards development project in Brooklyn.
"The time has come to categorically reject eminent domain takings solely based on underutilization," the court said. The doctrine of "underutilization" would wrongly subject all properties to "the ultimate commercial development" even if that clashed with a neighborhood's character, it said.
A university spokeswoman was not available to comment.
The appeals court said the state failed to show that Columbia's expansion had a public purpose, a requirement that must be met to seize land. Eminent domain in the past has been used to make room for projects including hospitals and turnpikes.
"Empire State Development Corporation's determination that the project has a public use, benefit or purpose is wholly unsupported by the record and precedent," said the court.
"The blight designation in the instant case is mere sophistry."
From 2002 to 2006, Columbia bought and gained control of most of the land it needed to expand, and forced out at least half of the tenants, the court said.
Columbia failed to fix water leaks in these properties, "even when minor and economically rational repairs could arrest deterioration," the court wrote.
Further, the court said: "Columbia left building code violations open, let tenants use premises in violation of local codes and ordinances by parking cars on sidewalks and obstructing fire exits, and maintaining garbage and debris in certain buildings over a period of years."
The court faulted several blight studies, saying of one: "Even a cursory examination of the study reveals the idiocy of considering things like unpainted block walls or loose awning supports as evidence of a blighted neighborhood." Similar conditions could be found throughout the city, it said.
[re-edited by Forbes]
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