by Allison Arends
John V. Haltom v. City of Omaha
(Nebraska Court of Appeals, January 26, 2010)
The City of Omaha, in an attempt to install a deceleration lane for traffic that would access a new retail development, negotiated with John Haltom and another property owner to obtain a strip of land. When the negotiations failed, the City filed a petition to condemn Haltom’s property. Haltom and the other property owner were awarded a total of $55,300 from the “Report of Appraisers”. Haltom filed a complaint arguing that Neb. Rev. Stat. 76-710.04 prohibited the City from exercising it’s eminent domain powers to acquire land for the purpose of economic development. The City filed a motion for partial summary judgment in response. At the summary judgment hearing the city engineer provided an affidavit in which he explained that his recommendation for the installment of the deceleration lane was primarily for purposes of traffic control and safety. The district court granted the City’s motion for summary judgment. Haltom appealed.
The court first addressed the issue of whether Haltom’s appeal was moot since his property had already been condemned and the deceleration lane had been built. However, because (1) the lane was determined to be a public issue (2) municipal authorities desiring to condemn property rely upon authoritative adjudication for future proceedings and (3) condemnation proceedings are replicated and identical in most cases, this case was found not moot under the public exception rule.
In his appeal, Haltom argued that the district court erred in determining that the City did not condemn his property for economic purposes. Furthermore, Haltom specifically argues the City directly violated statute 76-710.04 because the deceleration will (1) provide vehicles access to the retailer and (2) ultimately cause the expansion of the City’s property and sales tax bases through providing the retailer’s customers easier access to the retailer’s parking lot therefore exercising eminent domain for the purpose of economic development.
In response to Haltom’s claim the court cited the plain language of the statute, specifically noting section 76-710.04(1) which prohibits the use of eminent domain powers where taking is, “primarily for an economic development purpose.” Using this section the court found four reasons to reject Haltom’s argument. First, the City did not take the property for the use by a commercial for-profit enterprise. Second, the City’s acquisition of the land did not serve the primary purpose of increasing tax revenue or tax base. Third, the City’s acquisition of the land did not serve primarily for increasing employment. Finally, the use of the property cannot be understood as primarily related to “general economic conditions”. The court acknowledged that the City’s use of eminent domain may have resulted in incidental and indirect benefits to the retailer, but those benefits do not constitute a violation of statue 76-701.04 since it was not the City’s primary concern in the construction of the deceleration lane.
