By Michael Taylor
Last fall I learned…that a 50-acre parcel of which I am a part-owner has a planned “major thoroughfare” running through the middle of it.
My agent sent me the city parcel map, and yup, there’s a bright yellow line cutting right through our property. As owners we can’t build on that. Any development done on the property has to make way for a future, theoretical, 120-foot wide road right down the middle.
…The long-planned major thoroughfare is not built yet and might not be built for decades, or even built at all, ever. But in the meantime, we can’t use that land for anything except a road.
All-in, the as-yet non-existent “major thoroughfare” will take about 5 acres out of the parcel and make it unavailable for building. Multiply those 5 acres times the cost per acre, and we’re talking about real money lost by myself and my fellow owners.
…At first, I thought the carved-out 5 acres would be no big deal. Because, well, I’m an American. And I was flipping through my copy of the U.S. Constitution, as one does in one’s free time, and I reread Article V of the Bill of Rights: “Nor shall any person … be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
This amendment is the basis for limitations on any government – city, state or federal – claiming “eminent domain” over private property, taking it for public use without paying the private property owner for that taking.
So, no problem, I thought, the city of San Antonio will certainly pay us for that public use, right? I mean, I read it right there in the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. So, cool, I’m good.
That’s when I called city officials to test my theory.
Nope. There will be no compensation.
