Missouri Town Wants To Seize Local Businesses Over Chipped Paint and Cracked Sidewalks
For 20 years, Amy Stanford and her sister Carolyn Wilson have run Time for Dinner, a family-oriented meal prep business that has served generations of local families in Brentwood, Missouri. Now she’s one of several local small business owners suing the city over its decision to label their properties “blighted”—a designation that opens the door to property seizure for its sweeping $436 million redevelopment plan.Â
The ongoing lawsuit, filed in December 2023 by the Institute for Justice (I.J.), says the city is abusing its power by invoking eminent domain to push out businesses under a dubious blight designation. Under Missouri law, eminent domain can only be used for a legitimate public purpose, and invoking it for private or economic development purposes is prohibited. Cases of dispute over public use require a judicial determination “without regard to any legislative declaration that the use is public.”
In July 2023, the city approved a plan to redevelop the Manchester Road Corridor with new office buildings and apartment complexes. City leaders argued that the redevelopment project was necessary to address persistent problems like flooding and crime and to generate new tax revenue.
The city has used a 2023 study by PGAV Planners, an urban planning firm, to justify its blight designations. The city-commissioned study found that 48 of the 75 properties in the redevelopment zone exhibited “physical deterioration,” while 26 were vacant, enough to designate the entire corridor blighted.
Bob Belden, I.J.’s lead attorney on the case, argues that the study fails to prove that the area showed a “predominance” of unsafe conditions, as required by Missouri law in order to deem an area blighted.
The 2023 study lacked individual property analysis and included only 40 photos for 75 properties. Some properties had multiple pictures, others had none. Addresses weren’t provided for the photos, some of which featured little more than an unidentified parking lot. Several pictures showed properties with cracked pavement, while other properties, like Time for Dinner, were not photographed and had no evidence of blight presented.
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