Bike Path Trumps Property Rights In Minnesota Eminent Domain Case
“Dakota County, Minnesota wants to build a bike trail on a Mississippi River property and is wiling to rebuke property rights and seize the land by eminent domain. Two Minnesota sisters lost their father, and then they had to stand by an watch as the land he loved yanked away as well. Apparently, property rights are far less important than a bike path to the Hastings elected officials. The 10-acre Mississippi River property has been in Bill Sorg’s family since 1896 and was willed to the sisters upon their father’s death.
The county refused to accept a property easement offer by the sisters which would have permitted the completion of the bike path. Exactly why the Minnesota lawmakers would have created a bike path plan involving land not already owned by the county remains to be seen. Local residents are fighting back against the county’s quest to acquire a total of 120-acres of land inside the Spring Lake Park Reserve. Most of the land and homes have been owned by a single family for generations.”
InQuistr 25 February 2014.