City considers using eminent domain to keep major employer
“A bill that would allow the city to buy land in north St. Louis using eminent domain to create room for a new home for the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) is moving forward.
The bill, if passed by the full Board of Aldermen, would enable the city to buy land in the 3rd and 5th Wards so it can be cleared to entice the NGA to stay in the City of St. Louis. The agency currently has offices in Soulard, very close to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, and has been looking at different sites around the St. Louis area as a possible new home.
Many aldermen have voiced concern about using eminent domain to seize some of the homes that sit on the land. Friday, they agreed to move the bill forward on the condition that the Board of Aldermen would have to approve using eminent domain for each individual property.
“That changes the game. The LCRA can’t go negotiate with these people and say ‘sell to us or we’re going to take the house anyway.’ They don’t have that authority,” said 21st Ward Alderman Antonio French.
Many who live where the new GEO building would be built want the area to remain residential.
“We want our community to be preserved and to be revitalized. It is a residential area and that’s how it is zoned right now, and that’s how what we would like it to continue to be,” said resident Karen Taylor.
The bill has moved out of committee and will be taken up by the full Board of Aldermen. GEO is expected to announce which site it will choose for its new headquarters in March.”
Zoga, Diana. KMOV 30 January 2015.