When exercising the power of eminent domain, condemning authorities almost always attempt to save money (sometimes acting properly, sometimes not).  One improper way condemning authorities attempt to pinch pennies – at property owners’ expense – is through pre-condemnation activities that devalue or depress the value of property soon-to-be acquired through the eminent domain/condemnation process.

Condemning authorities’ pre-condemnation activities to devalue property targeted for eminent domain/condemnation include:

• altering the zoning status of or “down-zoning” targeted property (e.g., changing the zoning of targeted property from heavy commercial to agricultural) or lobbying local public officials to stop imminent zoning changes which, in the ordinary course of business, would be granted;
• refusing to allow targeted property to obtain a status change (e.g., denying an application for annexation into a city or town); and
• hindering access points for targeted property.

Condemning authorities often engage in this pre-condemnation behavior because they seem to believe that property owners should only be compensated for the value of property as the property exists on the date of taking (the date that the Court formally transfers property interests from the property owner to the condemning authority).  In other words, it seems that some condemning authorities believe that if the value of targeted property is depressed on the date of taking because of a condemning authority’s actions, it is the property owner’s loss and the condemning authority’s gain.

Florida law, however, does not support this position.  Florida law provides strong protection for property owners whose property is devalued by a condemning authority’s pre-condemnation actions.  Indeed, in Florida, if a condemning authority engages in pre-condemnation activities that depress the value of property targeted for eminent domain/condemnation, those activities must be disregarded and the property must be treated as if the condemning authority never acted.

As an example, in the seminal case, Gefen v. Department of Transportation, 636 So.2d 1345, 1346 (Fla. 1994), the Florida Department of Transportation (“FDOT”) closed interstate access ramps for property it targeted for eminent domain/condemnation.  Instead of allowing the affected property to be devalued because FDOT (the condemning authority in the Gefen case) cut off interstate access to the property prior to the date of taking, the Florida Supreme Court flatly ruled that eminent domain “compensation will have to be based on the value that the property would have had if the access ramps had not been closed.”  Id.

In other words, for eminent domain purposes, the targeted property in Gefen had to be treated as if FDOT (the condemning authority in the Gefen case) had not tried to devalue the property at issue in anticipation of an eminent domain/condemnation action.  The actions of FDOT, for eminent domain compensation purposes, had to be completely ignored.

This strong rule set forth in Gefen is still good law in Florida, and it is this rule that causes Fixel, Maguire & Willis attorneys and associated team of eminent domain professionals to closely monitor condemning authorities’ pre-condemnation activities for Fixel, Maguire & Willis clients.  If a condemning authority oversteps Florida law and attempts to improperly depress the value of a client’s property, Fixel, Maguire & Willis attorneys will use its resources to ensure that the condemning authorities’ improper efforts fail.

If you have any questions or concerns about a condemning authority’s pre-condemnation actions – or any issue related to eminent domain/condemnation in Florida – please call contact Fixel, Maguire & Willis’s firm administrator by email at sharris@fla-eminentdomain.com or by telephone, toll free at (800) 848-7535.