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Boyton Beach wants to have a developer of rebuild their downtown area. Of course they were planning on taking the property by eminent domain. Now that option is off the table as Governor Bush signed Florida’s new eminent domain legislation.

Of course, the new law does not kill the project, but it forces the government to deal with the landowners and respect their property rights. As an expert said, either paying more for the property or offering home and business owners a space in the new project in exchange for their existing property.” So the threat of the Sheriff forcing them to take the deal at the point of a gun, the city has to pay a price to get the property.

The city had planned to push eminent domain proceedings to take over four parcels for the project’s first phase at Tuesday night’s City Commission. The city was also looking into acquiring another six lots for the second phase.

But Thursday, before the city filed court papers to begin the takeover proceedings, Gov. Jeb Bush signed a law restricting the use of eminent domain.

Now city officials are forced to rethink the project that was four years in the making.

“It’s definitely a change in direction,” Boynton Beach Mayor Jerry Taylor said.

But the loss of eminent domain should not necessarily kill the effort, said Frank Schnidman, senior fellow at Florida Atlantic University Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions.

Schnidman, who is nationally known for his urban planning work, filed a brief in the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court case that set the precedent for the use of eminent domain. That standard dictated that cities must prove property seizures were for the public good and not developers’ interests.

For the city to move forward, Schnidman said, it’s going to take creativity and negotiation.

Among the city’s options: either paying more for the property or offering home and business owners a space in the new project in exchange for their existing property, he says.

“There’s no reason they can’t be offered a condominium in the project and have relocation cost paid in the interim,” he said.

If all else fails, the city could build around holdouts or condemn their property for parks, he said.

Eminent domain restriction to delay project in Boynton: South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

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