Kansas’ top judges say it’s OK to condemn a home if it’s standing in the way of a racetrack or industrial park.

That makes Dana Berliner worry.

Berliner, an attorney for the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Justice, bashed Kansas this week in a nationwide report called “Public Power, Private Gain.”

She called Kansas an “abuser” and said it was one of the states that most often condemned residential property for private economic development.

Berliner’s research found 155 government condemnations filed for the benefit of private projects in Kansas in the past five years.

Only California, with 223 condemnation filings, had more.

“People throughout your state who hear about proposals to take their land for private development should start immediately organizing,” Berliner said. “Activism is the main way that people can defend themselves.”

Berliner found three projects in Kansas since 1998 that forced private owners to sell their land: NASCAR’s Kansas Speedway in Wyandotte County, a Target distribution center at an industrial park in Topeka and the expansion of a BMW dealership in Merriam.

In the Target case, Shawnee County officials argued that the benefits of high-paying jobs and the expansion of the tax base outweighed the interests of property owners who didn’t want to sell.

¢ Ruling widens eminent domain law (4-19-03)¢ Institute for Justice report on property rights

Earlier this month in a ruling related to the case, the state Supreme Court agreed. It found the “taking of private property for industrial or economic development was a valid public purpose.”

Douglas County Commissioner Jere McElhaney said he thought there were times when it was justified to take land in the name of business.

“I think so. I mean, it’s something that you wouldn’t want to make a practice of,” he said. “I would be very careful on the project and be very careful on its use. NASCAR itself could probably pay just about all the taxes for Kansas City, Kansas.”

McElhaney said the benefits from the track trickled down to surrounding counties, as well. He said NASCAR crew members occasionally flew into Lawrence Municipal Airport and stayed at local hotels.

County Commissioner Charles Jones, however, said he wouldn’t use his vote to condemn a property for private use.

“I’m pretty cautious in terms of economic development to begin with. To start taking land strikes me as really going beyond the public interest,” he said. “It’s hard for me to imagine a scenario in which I would support something like that.”