How Sports Teams Exploit the Broad Reading of Kelo to Develop Sports Stadiums
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Fordham Urban Law Journal Volume 48 Number 1 COVID-19 and Systemic Injustice: Article 5 People and Governance 2020 The Opening of a Pandora’s Box: How Sports Teams Exploit The Broad Reading of Kelo to Develop Sports Stadiums Bruce Racine Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ulj Recommended Citation Bruce Racine, The Opening of a Pandora’s Box: How Sports Teams Exploit The Broad Reading of Kelo to Develop Sports Stadiums, 48 Fordham Urb. L.J. 143 (2021). Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ulj/vol48/iss1/5 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fordham Urban Law Journal by an authorized editor of FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE OPENING OF A PANDORA’S BOX: HOW SPORTS TEAMS EXPLOIT THE BROAD READING OF KELO TO DEVELOP SPORTS STADIUMS Bruce Racine* Introduction ............................................................................................... 144 I. The Evolving Nature of “Public Use” and Eminent Domain ................. 149 A. History of “Public Use” and Eminent Domain .......................... 149 i. Berman v. Parker: The Use of Eminent Domain for Economic Development Starts .......................................... 151 ii. Hawaii Housing Authority v. Midkiff: The Court Further Expands “Public Use” ........................................................ 152 iii. Kelo v. City of New London: The Court Opens a Pandora’s Box .................................................................... 153 iv. Ramifications of Kelo ......................................................... 156 II. Eminent Domain Relating to Sports Stadiums and Arenas ................... 158 A. History of Using Eminent Domain for Sports Stadiums and Arenas in the United States ..................................................... 158 B. Rampant Building of Sports Stadiums and Arenas During the Last Few Decades .............................................................. 161 C. Recent Uses of Eminent Domain by Sports Teams and Cities .. 164 i. Nationals Park: Eminent Domain in the Nation’s Capital .... 165 ii. Goldstein v. Pataki: The Nets Move to Brooklyn ............... 166 iii. Sacramento Kings: Eminent Domain Usage Spreads to the West Coast ................................................................... 168 iv. Audi Field: Eminent Domain Returns to the District ......... 170 D. Future Problems of Eminent Domain with Sports Stadiums ..... 173 E. The Power of Sports in People’s Lives ...................................... 176 III. Ending Sports Teams’ Exploitation of Kelo for Sports Stadiums ....... 180 * J.D., 2021, Fordham University School of Law; B.A., 2018, Colgate University. Thank you to Professor Nestor Davidson for guiding me through the Note and subject material. Thank you as well to the editors and staff of the Fordham Urban Law Journal, particularly Christina Bai, Kelly Lin, and Nora Stephens for their insight and dedication. Finally, I am grateful to my family and friends for their support and encouragement. 143 144 FORDHAM URB. L.J. [Vol. XLVIII A. The Supreme Court Could Narrow Kelo ................................... 181 B. State Legislatures Stepping In .................................................... 185 C. State Courts Narrowing Takings Under State Laws .................. 187 D. Eminent Domain and Relocation Contractual Provisions .......... 190 E. The Public Purpose Doctrine ...................................................... 190 IV. The Solutions That Can Work ............................................................. 192 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 195 INTRODUCTION The Faith Deliverance Temple sits in the middle of downtown Orlando, Florida, right near the Amway Center, where Orlando’s National Basketball Association (NBA) team plays.1 The Faith Deliverance Temple has been serving the Parramore residents in Orlando for over 40 years; the Temple has been at its current location for almost three decades.2 In 2014, the City of Orlando approached the church to buy its property through a voluntary acquisition.3 When the church refused to negotiate with the City because its roots in the community were too strong, Orlando looked into other options to acquire land to build a new Major League Soccer (MLS) stadium for the Orlando City Soccer Club.4 The City settled on using eminent domain to obtain the land.5 At first, the City threatened the Faith Deliverance Temple with eminent domain, but the church still refused to 1. See City of Orlando MLS Stadium: Faith Deliverance Temple (Orange County, FL), BRIGHAM PROP. RTS. L. FIRM (2016) [hereinafter City of Orlando MLS Stadium], https://propertyrights.com/project/faith-deliverance-temple/ [https://perma.cc/YNF7-4K85]. 2. See id. 3. See Church Fights Back Against City’s Eminent Domain Suit, OWNERS’ COUNS. AMERICA (June 11, 2014), https://www.ownerscounsel.com/church-fights-back-against-citys-eminent-domain-suit/ [https://perma.cc/6H4V-XZBH]. 4. See David Damron, Orlando Drops Eminent Domain Action Against Church, Moves Soccer Stadium Farther West, ORLANDO SENTINEL (Aug. 4, 2014, 6:17 PM), https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-orlando-soccer-stadium-church-e minent-domain-20140804-story.html [https://perma.cc/D5HY-P95V]. 5. See Mark Schleub, Judge: Orlando Can Take Land for Soccer Stadium, ORLANDO SENTINEL (Jan. 31, 2014), https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-2014-01-31-os-orlando-soccer-stadium-land -20140131-story.html [https://perma.cc/Q94B-MN4Y]. Eminent domain refers to the government’s power to take private property and convert it to public use. The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states that the government may only use this option if it provides just compensation to the property owners. See Eminent Domain, LEGAL INFO. INST., https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/eminent_domain [https://perma.cc/KVB5-M776] (last visited Oct. 18, 2020). 2020] THE OPENING OF A PANDORA’S BOX 145 sell their land.6 Weeks of negotiations over prices eventually faltered, forcing Orlando to file an eminent domain lawsuit to take the land.7 The City of Orlando was under a tight timeframe to begin constructing the stadium in time for the 2016 MLS season.8 The Faith Deliverance Temple had no intention of moving and decided to play the long game with city officials, which meant challenging the taking in court.9 In January 2014, Circuit Judge Patricia Doherty ruled that the stadium served a public purpose and the City had the right to take the land needed for the MLS stadium.10 Despite this ruling, the church chose to continue challenging the taking.11 But, by this point in the suit, Orlando’s use of eminent domain to take property from a small church to build a $100 million stadium became national news.12 After receiving backlash for their intended actions, City officials stopped pursuing the church’s land and relocated the stadium one block from the original plan.13 Today, the Faith Deliverance Temple stands in the shadow of the Orlando City Soccer Club’s stadium. Orlando’s use of eminent domain made national news as reporters from ESPN, Forbes, and The Washington Post wrote articles about the use. 14 Many reporters 6. See Damron, supra note 4. 7. See Schleub, supra note 5. 8. See Damron, supra note 4. 9. See id. 10. See Schleub, supra note 5. 11. See City of Orlando MLS Stadium, supra note 1. 12. See Ilya Somin, Orlando Condemns Private Property in Order to Build a Major League Soccer Stadium, WASH. POST (Feb. 7, 2014, 5:23 PM) [hereinafter Somin, Orlando Condemns], https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/02/07/orlando-condem ns-private-property-in-order-to-build-a-major-league-soccer-stadium/ [https://perma.cc/827P-GTB5]. 13. See Damron, supra note 4; IJ Action, Orlando Drops Attempt to Abuse Eminent Domain, INST. FOR JUST. (Aug. 6, 2014), https://ij.org/action-post/orlando-drops-attempt-to-abuse-eminent-domain-replace-church-wi th-soccer-stadium/ [https://perma.cc/ULD4-PHVQ]. 14. See Marc Edelman, Florida Court Allows Taking of Private Land to Build a Major League Soccer Stadium Based on a Broad Application of “Public Use” Doctrine, FORBES (Feb. 3, 2014, 1:03 PM), https://www.forbes.com/sites/marcedelman/2014/02/03/florida-court-allows-the-taking-of-c hurch-land-to-build-a-major-league-soccer-stadium/#74391bb15e64 [https://perma.cc/6P53-WG5D]; Mina Kimes, Stadium Progress Halted by Church, ESPN (July 7, 2014), https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/11181941/city-orlando-plans-soccer-stadium-thwarte d-church-espn-magazine [https://perma.cc/9MP4-CCFF]; Somin, Orlando Condemns, supra note 12. 146 FORDHAM URB. L.J. [Vol. XLVIII observed that despite Florida having some of the strongest post-Kelo15 eminent domain reform laws in the country, the judge ruled for the City.16 Throughout the country, cities and local governments compete to build the next greatest stadium or arena. Land use experts Amirit Kulkarni, Brenda Aguilar-Guerrero, and David Skinner observed that “[c]ities, counties and private enterprises throughout the U.S., particularly in California, are competing to recruit and retain professional sports teams. The decisive factor in nearly every proposed deal is providing a new multi-million dollar sports arena.”17 In the past 27 years, there have been over 122 sports facilities erected in the United States.18 In