http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-512walmartthreat,0,1098485.story?track=rss
Giant Wal-Mart to rural landowners: Sell or else
Retailer cites eminent domain in its bid to build a massive distribution
center
By Etan Horowitz
Orlando Sentinel
Posted May 12 2006, 9:28 AM EDT
The world's largest retailer, battling to build a huge new distribution
center in Putnam County, is threatening a handful of rural residents
that they may have their land taken if they don't agree to sell it to
the company.
Representatives of Wal-Mart have told the landowners they will ask
Putnam County to use its powers of eminent domain if the families won't
sell. The retailer needs about a half-dozen parcels to widen a road that
would provide access to a proposed 800,000-square-foot distribution
center just over the Volusia County line -- a project Volusia officials
have gone to court to block.
A letter to the landowners gave them until 5 p.m. Thursday to agree to
a deal with the company.
The deadline came on the same day that Gov. Jeb Bush signed into law a
bill curbing local governments' use of eminent domain to benefit private
businesses. But the bill, which was in response to a U.S. Supreme Court
decision that allowed a Connecticut city to condemn an entire coastal
neighborhood for a developer, does not apply in this case because the
road is public, said a legal expert who helped craft the legislation.
Wal-Mart's plan to build the massive distribution center -- nearly the
size of the 952,000-square-foot Oviedo Marketplace -- has been opposed
by several residents groups as well as Volusia County because of
concerns about the traffic the center would create, its impact on the
environment and whether it is compatible with the rural area. Although
the center would not be open to shoppers, trucks would crowd U.S.
Highway 17, opponents say.
The latest effort by Wal-Mart to keep the center on track drew immediate
criticism from some residents and raised concerns even with officials
who support the project.
Putnam County Administrator Rick Leary said the county hasn't agreed to
use its powers of eminent domain for Wal-Mart.
"Some people might think these individuals [the Wal-Mart
representatives] are agents of the county, and they aren't," Leary said.
"We haven't talked about using eminent domain, and it hasn't been
anything the county has practiced."
Wal-Mart said it needs to buy about seven lots to widen Clifton Road in
Crescent City and install a utility line.
John Williams, 61, a retired corrections officer who owns a mobile home
on the road, said he doesn't want to sell the land he worked for years
to buy. But he fears he might not have a choice.
"They are the big bear, and there's nothing we can do about it,"
Williams said. "The big bear comes in and takes whatever they want."
Keith Morris, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said that despite the letter from
the consultant, the company does not plan to ask the county to use
eminent domain to acquire the properties.
Morris said he did not know why the consultant had written that the
properties might be acquired through eminent domain.
"It sounds like there is a miscommunication somewhere along the way," he
said. "We have instructed a consultant to negotiate on our behalf [for
the right of way], but beyond that, we have not given any instructions
to say that if that doesn't work out, we should look at eminent domain.
I can't tell you why they wrote that."
Mike Mullis, the consultant who wrote the letter, would not answer
questions about the possible use of eminent domain.
Residents were given letters offering them $1,000 for the right to buy
their property at prices Mullis claimed were twice the market value. But
the letters went on to warn what could happen if they don't agree to the
deal:
"In the event any of these property parcel owners are not willing to
either sell, or to provide the needed r.o.w. [right of way] . . . our
firm will ask the County to proceed with the necessary legal actions to
secure those properties from the property owners to accommodate the
public purpose needs to serve the planned project's utility and road
requirements."
"One or two people are scared to death," said Michael Woodward, an
attorney representing some of the Putnam residents opposing the
Wal-Mart. "They think if they don't give Wal-Mart what they want, they
will get sued and will get kicked out on the street. It can be pretty
scary when somebody comes to your door and starts telling you they
represent the biggest corporation in America, and they have the county
backing them, and you better get in line."
Although the new state law does not apply to this case, it's still
unclear whether Putnam would be able to use its powers of condemnation,
said Andrew Brigham, a Jacksonville attorney who helped write the new
state legislation.
"I would say this is a jump ball," Brigham said.
Traditionally, eminent domain has been used to take private property
needed for public improvements such as roads, schools and public
buildings.
But although the road would be open to the public, lawyers could argue
that the improvements mainly benefit Wal-Mart, Brigham said.
"There is an argument there for the owners if it could be shown that
the widening of the road predominately favored Wal-Mart and that the
public purpose is incidental," he said.
Volusia County Council member Dwight Lewis, who represents the part of
Volusia closest to the planned Wal-Mart site, is disturbed by the
possibility of using eminent domain to make way for the distribution
center.
"They may say it is for public purpose to widen the road, but it is for
the purpose of allowing the largest and richest corporation on the
planet to come into the neighborhood and disrupt the neighborhood,"
Lewis said. "That's a misuse of eminent domain."
Putnam officials have hailed the center as a godsend, saying it would
bring high-paying jobs to the area, which has a high unemployment rate
and low income levels.
Even Williams, one of the homeowners, said the Wal-Mart center would be
good for Putnam. He just doesn't want to give up his home for it.
"I don't have the money to fight them," said Williams, who lives in a
five-bedroom, triple-wide trailer with his wife and sister-in-law.
He said Wal-Mart offered him $150,000 to sell, but he told
representatives he's not selling and threw one of their letters in the
trash.
"If they will let me keep part of the land, I will do that. But I don't
know if they can do that or not."
Etan Horowitz can be reached at or
386-851-7915.
/end
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Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a plethora of splinters.
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