Pennsylvania TownHall -- Where the Voice of Pennsylvania is Heard!

Susquehanna Valley Center

The Perils of Eminent Domain

by Policy Brief

How York County's Unsuccessful Attempt To Seize Private Property Through Eminent Domain May Cost County Taxpayers Up To $30 Million

By Marianne Clay, Research Associate

(Complete report available at www.susvalleypolicy.org)

No one knows what the lawsuits stemming from York County's unsuccessful attempt to create "Susquehanna Heritage Park" through eminent domain will total. But the financial fiasco sounds a warning to other communities.

"The county made a big mistake in seizing land for a park by eminent domain," says York Commissioner Chris Reilly, "and we've got to find a way to extract ourselves from our legal mess." The public taking of private land, Reilly believes, should be reserved for essential services, like roads and schools, and only as a last resort.

While Reilly and the other two commissioners now in office never supported the public taking of private land for a park, they are stuck with its fallout. "We're trying to figure out what it's going to take - what number is needed - to put this horrible mess behind us," Reilly says. Most expect the taxpayers will pay millions before this saga concludes. "The guess-estimate," says Reilly, "is $15 to $30 million."

So, how did York County get into this unenviable situation?

In the summer of 2002, Lower Windsor Township officials joined by planners, politicians, and preservationists began considering turning a large farm just south of Wrightsville into a park. The township wanted to preserve the farm's expanse of open space and feared, if parcels of the farm continued to be sold and developed for housing, the township's costs, especially for schools, would soar.

Ambitious and confident, the park organizers figured, if necessary, they had the constitutional right to take the land they wanted through eminent domain. Specifically, they wanted Lauxmont Farms, a site known for its natural beauty, acres of rolling pasture, a stone mansion, a panoramic vista of the valley, and access to the Susquehanna River below. And, they believed they knew what to get the land and get rid of the Kohr family, whose 1996 reorganization following bankruptcy in 1989 has required them to sell parcels of the 1000-plus-acre farm they have lived and worked on since the family purchased it in 1973. The park organizers figured out everything, except public sentiment.

Some residents questioned the need for another recreational area when just up the hill sits the 85-acre Sam Lewis State Park. Others worried about the high cost of creating and maintaining the park proposed - a "magnificent heritage, recreation, and scenic park unlike any other place in our county, region or state" with a museum, a "world-class heritage education" visitor center, and a trail to the river. Many opposed taking someone's farm to create a park so much that County Commissioners Doug Kilgore and Lori Mitrick lost the May 2007 primary. Voters returned Steve Chronister, the lone commissioner to oppose the taking, while they elected Reilly and Doug Hoke to replace Kilgore and Mitrick.

"Not offering the Kohr family fair market value for their land right away was a huge mistake," says Reilly, "and now we're stuck dealing with it. And, while the situation with the Kohr family is clouded by their legal and financial troubles, trying to seize their land by eminent domain was not a wise approach. Using eminent domain has polarized people. Certainly this land is unique, significant and valuable, and we're all for the creation of parks and land preservation, but not this way. Trying to take their land by eminent domain for a park was a huge mistake and shows government at its worst."

Right before Christmas 2007 and before the present commissioners took office, the Kohr family filed a lawsuit against York County stating that the commissioners' efforts to take their land by eminent domain deepened the family's financial problems. Who, after all, wants to buy land that might be seized through eminent domain? The suit also alleges a wide-ranging conspiracy to get the land for considerably less-than-market value and for a prolonged harassment campaign against the family that eventually drove their mother, the late Laura Kohr, to suicide. The lawsuit cites York County and its commissioners as defendants and says the Kohrs are seeking an unnamed amount in damages.

No wonder the current commissioners are bracing themselves, as they expect the county will either have to raise taxes or float a bond issue. "Those who said the county could acquire this land and create this park without spending taxpayers' money were out and out lying," Reilly says. "And you can quote me. Their plan to cobble together grants and shift around various pockets of government money was just a ridiculous game of semantics."

So far, the county has spent about $8.5 million. Peter Alecxih, who owns and operates a small residential construction firm in Columbia, has received the biggest chunk to date, $7.5 million, for his 79 acres taken by the county in 2004. Alecxih believes the land, now marked by a small parking lot and a sign "Highpoint Scenic Vista and Recreational Area," is worth at least $17 million. Unless he and the county settle, he will present his case before a jury trial on July 7, four years after Mitrick and Kilgore began the process to seize his parcel for the park. No one knows what the trial's outcome will be, but the county will be responsible for paying him any additional sum the trial might determine for the land plus interest.

In addition, the county has paid and will continue to pay hefty legal bills. Since Commissioners Kilgore and Mitrick got behind the project in 2004 through February 2008, the county has spent $805,764.15 in legal fees, according to County Solicitor Michael Flannelly. He notes money was also spent on appraisals, but these fees were either incorporated within the lawyers' bills or never billed to the county.

So what's next? "Limiting the county's liability, and doing what is right for Peter Alecxih, the Kohr family and for York County, and for all of us, as taxpayers," says Reilly.

Expensive, time-consuming, and fraught with hard feelings, York County's experience offers a harsh lesson in the perils of eminent domain.