State legislators consider changing language regarding 'blighted' property designation

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- In 1964, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart penned one of the most famed legal phrases in America. "I know it when I see it," he said.

Stewart was referring to what qualifies as hard-core pornography -- something susceptible to government-imposed restrictions on free speech.

Yet his phrase seems equally applicable today in the political and legal battles over what qualifies as "blighted" -- a designation making private property susceptible to government taking for redevelopment by someone else.

Although defined in law, what's "blighted" and what's not often depend on one's viewpoint. And when the viewer is a city government hoping to lure businesses for the sake of enlarging its tax base, the definition of "blighted" sometimes becomes loose -- or, as some property rights advocates might argue, obscenely loose.

Such is the case, many allege, in Sunset Hills, a St. Louis County city of more than 8,200 residents that professes on its Web site to enjoy "the reputation of being one of the most desirable communities in which to live and work in the St. Louis area."

In May, the Sunset Hills Board of Aldermen voted 7-1 to create a tax increment financing district where 262 homes and 12 businesses stood, with the intent of turning the neighborhood into a shopping center potentially anchored by a Macy's department store. The TIF district makes the developers eligible for special tax breaks.

But to create the special tax district, city aldermen first had to conclude there was something wrong with the buildings already there. They did so, against the recommendation of the city's own tax increment financing commission.

The aldermen stopped short of declaring the area "blighted." Instead, they labeled it a "conservation area" -- meaning that the area could become blighted.

State law allows cities to impose such designations on areas where at least half the buildings are older than 35 years and have three of the following long list of conditions: "dilapidation; obsolescence; deterioration; illegal use of individual structures; presence of structures below minimum code standards; abandonment; excessive vacancies; overcrowding of structures and community facilities; lack of ventilation, light or sanitary facilities; inadequate utilities; excessive land coverage; deleterious land use or layout; depreciation of physical maintenance; and lack of community planning."

Open to interpretation

It's up to local governments to interpret those terms.

In the case of Sunset Hills, homes were determined to be suffering from "depreciation of physical maintenance" because of such factors as peeling paint and missing or clogged gutters. Homes were considered in "obsolescence" because they had bedrooms in basements deemed not to have been designed for that use. Homes were declared "below minimum code standards" because of 1950s windows that now are considered too small to escape through in an emergency.

Sunset Hills city attorney Robert C. Jones said 229 property owners have agreed to sell. But because of the TIF district, the threat of eminent domain hangs over the rest if they don't voluntarily give up their land.

The situation in Sunset Hills has received national attention because of a June 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a Connecticut case that upheld the use of eminent domain to transfer private property from one owner to another who could generate more tax revenues.

Politicians and property rights groups have decried the decision and pointed to Sunset Hills as an alleged abuse of the law.

Now legislators are considering whether to change Missouri's definition of "blight" as it applies to eminent domain and tax increment financing districts.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a powerful influence with Republicans, is opposed to changing the definition, arguing it could undo a "very delicate legal framework" that has built up over the years.

Gov. Matt Blunt, meanwhile, is embracing a task force recommendation to make it tougher to declare properties "blighted" for eminent domain, but he isn't insistent that the tougher standards also apply to determinations for creating TIF districts.

House Speaker Rod Jetton, an advocate for changing the blight definition, isn't promoting any specific new language yet. But he knows that what he sees in some officially declared "blighted" areas certainly is different from what some city officials are seeing.

"I think of blight as nothing happening there -- it's just falling apart," said Jetton, R-Marble Hill. "I don't think of people's homes with flower pots out front."

---

EDITOR'S NOTE: Capitol Correspondent David A. Lieb covers Missouri government and politics for The Associated Press.