City Leaders Consider Eminent Domain if Boat Club Rejects Final Compromise
“City officials and elected leaders are considering using the power of eminent domain to accomplish its goals on the waterfront if members of the Old Dominion Boat Club reject their latest compromise. After eight years of negotiation and debate, Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille wrote a letter offering an ultimatum: Cut a deal or face the consequences.
#”One of the considerations is potential litigation,” said Deputy City Attorney Chis Spera. “Eminent domain is one of the possibilities, but ultimately that’s going to be a public process. The City Council is going to have to vote on whether they want to go forward with eminent domain or anything else.”
#At issue is the club’s parking lot at the foot of King Street, a point of disagreement between city leaders and Old Dominion members for decades. Recommendation 3.72 of the waterfront plan calls for the city to “pursue eliminating the ODBC parking lot along The Strand, preferably through negotiation with the ODBC.” Since zoning for the waterfront plan was adopted earlier this year, city officials have been engaged in ongoing negotiations to make that recommendation a reality. Now those negotiations seem to be reaching an end game.”
Lee Pope, Michael. Connection Newspaper 5 September 2013.