Eminent Domain Report

As the old adage goes, the three most important things to consider with real estate are location, location, and location.  But any developer who has lived through a real estate cycle, and any public agency that is under a funding deadline or working through a project’s environmental approvals, knows that timing may be even more important than location.  Indeed, timing considerations often create competing interests between public agencies and developers.  On the one hand, before commencing right of way acquisition, public agencies are required to comply with complicated environmental processes that may take years to complete.  On the other hand, during this environmental approval process for a public project, a property owner’s plans for development face uncertainty if the planned public project may alter or limit the scope of potential uses of the property.  If a developer decides to forge ahead with its project despite a planned public project, it could easily result in a far greater cost for the public agency to acquire the necessary right of way.  The timing risk associated with two planned projects that conflict is precisely the situation the California Court of Appeal addressed in Jefferson Street Ventures, LLC v. City of Indio (April 21, 2015 [ordered published May 15, 2015]), Case No. G049899.  Click here to learn more about the issues and takeaways from this case.