Eminent Domain Lawyer & Attorney : Ackerman Ackerman & Dynkowski : Michigan, Ohio, Illinois

Beacon Journal, July 2007

The Akron City Council intended to vote on the authorization of the city to exercise its powers of eminent domain if necessary to acquire residential property in the middle of the renewal area. 

Notices were to be mailed 15 days in advance of the public hearing, however one of the property owners failed to receive a notice.

-Due process requires fair notice of a hearing in which the final decision to take is made. The courts have consistently taken a position that the judiciary is extremely limited in the propriety of review of the local decision. Therefore, it is imperative that owners have the right to be heard at the time the decision is made in the local legislative body, be it a Township Supervisor Board or a City Council hearing.

The Akron taking may be as much for the opportunity simply to have some development action in the community as it is more than for a public use.

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Monroe Evening News, January 18, 2007

When property owners in Monroe Michigan found out about a proposed Marathon Petroleum pipeline they understood that pipelines are a fact of life, but that doesn't mean they have to like it.

Marathon has been laying the groundwork for installing a new pipeline through Monroe County.   The pipeline would bring crude oil from Canada to the transfer station in Detroit.

The new line would be wider by 24 inches.

-Pipelines often have different attributes. Some are gas, while others are oil or gasoline.
Each pipeline has a different effect on the property. The environmental considerations are of paramount import. Affects on the property may occur in any of a number of ways.

The pipeline companies can be challenged. Despite a pipeline agent telling people that it will be very expensive for them, in many jurisdictions, the agency is required to pay the expert fees of the owners even as part of a settlement or litigation. The Marathon pipeline discussed in the Monroe Evening News will be particularly challenging for owners.

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