Forum on eminent domain set

On Tuesday, Dec. 6, two experts will discuss the recent, controversial U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows governments to condemn private property to make way for commercial redevelopment projects.

The free event will be held from 7-9 p.m. in Old Music Hall’s auditorium, which is accessible through the building’s Bascom Mall entrance. The public is welcome to attend.

The Kelo v. New London case was decided in summer 2005 in a 5-4 vote. Historically, eminent domain has been used to condemn property for certain public uses, such as building roads, bridges and schools and redeveloping blighted areas. The Kelo decision expands the scope of “public use” to include economic development in non-blighted areas that will increase a community’s tax revenue and potentially create jobs.

The forum will bring together two national experts with differing stances on the Kelo decision to discuss ramifications of the ruling. On one side, Paul Farmer, executive director of the American Planning Association, believes eminent domain is a vital tool for healthy communities, noting 100 years of case law supporting the recent Kelo decision.

John Norquist, president and CEO of Congress for the New Urbanism and former mayor of Milwaukee, will represent an opposing view. According to Norquist, eminent domain should not be invoked for projects with purely economic goals, particularly while other incentives are available to stimulate economic development.

The event is sponsored by the Wisconsin Student Planning Association, the Environmental Law Students Association, Students for New Urbanism, the Wisconsin chapter of the American Planning Association and the Department of Urban and Regional Planning.

For more information, contact Harvey Jacobs, professor in the department of urban and regional planning and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, at (608) 262-0552 or hmjacobs@wisc.edu.