Carmel city officials diffuse eminent domain fears relating to storm water district
“The Carmel City Council is currently exploring all options to help fix flooding problems in the Emerson Road area.
But residents are urging city leaders to be careful with one option: using eminent domain to seize land.
The newly formed Storm Water District utility has been tasked with solving Carmel’s drainage issues and at its first meeting ever it was suggested that taxpayers could be paying more to fix a problem then the affected houses were worth.
This led some to suggest that the city could buy a house, tear it down and build a retention pond as a cost-effective measure to solve the problem. But seizing these homes won’t likely be considered.
“Although the city always bears the responsibility and reserves the right to do what is necessary for projects in the best interest of a neighborhood or the city as a whole, there are currently no plans to use eminent domain in this area to acquire any houses,” Carmel City Engineer Jeremy Kashman said.”
Aasen, Adam. Current in Carmel 11 November 2014.
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