House File 64 eminent domain bill and Clarke County

Prior to attending the sub committee meeting of House File 64 I did some searching about the topic of eminent domain. I happened upon an article written in 2005 and it started out with this:

That little bell that just went off in your head this week is a warning you had better heed… When eminent domain becomes absolute dominion not a single citizen is safe from the insatiable greed of its government.

Once used as only a tool of last resort, to make room for a highway connecting cities, or a military installation needed to defend our borders, the law of eminent domain now places your home well in reach for purposes of simple commercial and economic development…

“That little bell” has been going off for a long time for Iowans who stand to lose their property to those who would gain financially if eminent domain is used to seize property. Land owners in Page, Clarke and Madison counties know only too well what life is like under the constant threat of eminent domain.

As subcommittee members met to discuss strengthening Iowa’s eminent domain laws today, the interest of landowners versus developers was evident. More than fifty people filled the room and the theme was set early when Mark Duben of H.R. Green Company, a consultant for the Clarke County Reservoir project, made this statement in a attempt to firm up the facts and figures he presented:

Eminent domain must be utilized for “the good of the whole over the desires of the few.”

This comment reminded me of something I had read in the article I had found:

This sounds dangerously close to the doctrines of Marx and Lenin…Doesn’t it? The rights of the community over the individual? Power in the hands of the government rather than the governed?

Also revealed at this meeting was the acknowledgment that some Clarke County residents opposed to strengthening the eminent domain bill have a financial interest in a potential bio diesel plant that might be built sometime in the future.

Much of the time was spent with figures, or rather the engineers and water interests. versus the five landowners who attempted to explain that they had lived under the threat of their land being taken since 1999. The exact words of a landowner “I have been living this thing every day.” These Iowa property owners were armed with their own facts and figures. The sub committee meeting gave them the opportunity to express their passion for keeping their land, the need to look at other options for water, and their distrust over the facts presented by the engineers. “You can get a study to say anything you want it to say” was one of points made by Clarke County landowners.

Today Rep. Jeff Kaufmann did his best to facilitate all sides having a voice. Kaufmann was well prepared and knowledgeable about the eminent domain issues. Kaufmann asked questions that he will expect to be answered at a future subcommittee meeting.

You can bet that the engineers, the water production interests, the landowners, the media, and average Iowa citizens will be present as the shell bill gets more time and attention.

That little bell that rings for Clarke County landowners needs to serve as a warning for all Iowa property owners. Depending on the outcome of House File 64, it could be any one of us sitting in chairs across the room from those who covet our land.

The insatiable greed could be breathing down your neck wanting your land under the guise of water needs. You could be the one wondering how bath houses and boat docks fit into the picture when your land is at the bottom of a lake.