Well, that’s new
We’ve seen land taken via eminent domain to build a Wal-Mart before, but in a new twist, someone is trying to take land from Wal-Mart for a university:
Rowan University plans to take developers involved in a project to build a Wal-Mart in Harrison Township back to court in an effort to take 115 acres slated for the shopping center by eminent domain.
In a lawsuit filed in Superior Court last week, Rowan University claims it has offered $8.38 million for two rural properties near the interchange of routes 55 and 322 where the developers have proposed building the shopping plaza.
The documents seek to condemn the property and to allow the state university to acquire the land through eminent domain.
Rowan’s suit is the latest development in a legal battle between the Wal-Mart developers and Rowan University over the farmland that has drawn on for more than two years.
Last year, Superior Court Assignment Judge George H. Stanger Jr. denied a similar request by Rowan to condemn the property –then owned by a local farmer who had contracted to sell the land to the Turnersville-based American Continental Properties. Stanger ruled that the state university had failed to adequately negotiate for the land.
September 3rd, 2004 at 12:13 pm
If Rowan University is a state school, and they have offered Wally World a fair price, I think this is legit. Building or expanding a public university qualifies as “public use” in my book.
And the turn-about is delicious.