Ruling lets Norfolk take more properties for ODU Village

Posted to: Education Local Government News Norfolk
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By Meghan Hoyer
The Virginian-Pilot
© February 22, 2011

NORFOLK

The city's housing authority can move forward with taking five properties around Old Dominion University to make way for the next phase of the University Village project, a Circuit Court judge has ruled.

In a decision dated Friday, Judge Louis A. Sherman said Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority's legal ability to take properties under Virginia's grandfathered eminent domain law had already been determined in earlier rounds of fights centered on University Village.

The case was the third time in 12 years that eminent domain has been challenged within the university's redevelopment area east of Hampton Boulevard.

"The facts in the present case are substantially the same," Sherman wrote.

In each case, redevelopment has been allowed to proceed. The area is now home to the Ted Constant Convocation Center, student housing, and commercial and business space.

The housing authority has been acquiring the land and turning it over to ODU's Real Estate Foundation, which is working to expand its mixture of housing and shops south of the university.

All properties within the redevelopment area have been purchased, except the ones tied up in court, allowing development to progress in the formerly industrial area as holdouts remain.

Central Radio, a communications repair company involved in the lawsuit, now operates next to a 1,000-student apartment complex. A small apartment building on 41st Street whose owners are also fighting the authority sits alone in an empty field.

The judge's decision will allow the housing authority to move forward with a court hearing to determine sales prices on both properties, as well as a duplex on 40th Street and empty land nearby. Through a spokesman, authority officials declined to comment about the decision Monday.

A fifth property at 3911 Killam Ave. also will go forward toward determining a sales price but is shaping up to be a more contentious fight than the others. The owner of Norva Plastics Inc. says the housing authority's appraiser improperly valued the property, leaving him with a low $2.08 million sales offer.

The attorney for the companies said the property owners planned to appeal their cases to the state Supreme Court, arguing that the housing authority had to have acquired the properties by July 1, 2010, when state law's eminent domain grandfather clause expired.

In 2007, the General Assembly strongly limited the ability of authorities to take properties under Virginia's eminent domain law but allowed ongoing projects such as ODU's to continue for three years.

"We're not deterred in the least bit," attorney Joe Waldo said. "We believe very strongly that we will prevail before the Supreme Court."

Meghan Hoyer, (757) 446-2293, meghan.hoyer@pilotonline.com

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Next will be NSU

Submitted by Chevelle on Tue, 02/22/2011 at 5:18 pm.

Okay, now NSU will want some land to expand their campus too!

There have been some great points brought to light here,

Submitted by self ed.opine on Tue, 02/22/2011 at 12:48 pm.

and for one I completely agree with Tabor's stance on eminent domain. He has stated it well here, and I was particularly impressed with his guest column on the subject in a Sunday's Pilot a few months back. The way it is done now is a complete relinquishing of individual rights and it completely undermines the core of our principled government.

Others have alluded to Old Dominion recognizing these two fine upstanding companies and to partner and build with them. These are two very relevant businesses that also live in and serve this community by providing jobs and services. If the university is getting image concious, they could always offer an amendment to these properties. They seemingly have enough discretionary spending to do so.and for one I

Norfolk

Submitted by cs on Tue, 02/22/2011 at 9:45 am.

Where private property isn't.

Norfolk is priceless

Submitted by tb35349 on Tue, 02/22/2011 at 7:54 am.

Stealing land
Defrauding tax payers
Citizens vote no those in office do it any way
Giving tax breaks to businesses mean while the tax payers can't even afford the rent
Building light rail in the middle of a flood zone
Using city visas to pay for personal items
Paying employees for 12 years after they were fired
Lying and covering up reports
Showing favoritism on gov. contracts

The list goes on.

Hampton Roads is the butt end of the earth for sure.

I smell a bubble

Submitted by rainman on Tue, 02/22/2011 at 7:38 am.

when that big fat ole public sector education bubble finally bursts its gonna make a huge splat. the cost of education goes up and up. wait until that juicy plump guaranteed student loan program collapses under its own weight and that well of money dries up. what does the average kid walk away owing? can parents get a second mortgage on house they are upside down on? can their families pay for it if there are no jobs? yup typical government behavior expand until it becomes a disaster.

Maybe ODU should try and

Submitted by kb1800 on Tue, 02/22/2011 at 4:27 am.

Maybe ODU should try and take the property that the cities golf course sits on. That a nice prime piece of land right next to ODU.

Brilliant idea! Commercial

Submitted by zookeeper on Tue, 02/22/2011 at 2:57 pm.

Brilliant idea! Commercial and residential development on a hilly reclaimed land fill seems like a no brainer...

I always wondered why they didn't built town center on mount trashmore, it just made so much more sense

So how long will ODU be exempt from the current law?

Submitted by dokein on Mon, 02/21/2011 at 10:30 pm.

And how far can they expand in the name of economic redevelopment? Can they start knocking down homes in Larchmont and Colonial Place next? ODU should be partnering with companies like Norva Plastics and Central Radio to bring some real world applications into their lackluster engineering program, instead of trying to running them out of business to bring more fast food joints, apartments, and bars onto their ever-expanding "campus".

I agree that partnerships

Submitted by zatoony on Tue, 02/22/2011 at 12:41 am.

I agree that partnerships with local businesses are a good idea, and actually think ODU should build around Norva Plastics since its currently a profitable functioning business. Plus, 2 million is a lot of cash for that lot. They're trying to bilk some extra cash from the taxpayers. But anyway, to say ODUs engineering program is lackluster is plain wrong. That program is quite respected and easily the best behind VT and UVA. And its not that unusual for them to get the best of those two in competitions these days.

Another set back for the City of Norfolk

Submitted by laura eichbaum on Mon, 02/21/2011 at 10:30 pm.

The tragic consequences of this ruling are that we continue to remove properties off the tax role for the city of Norfolk and thus shift that onto the rest of us. The city already has a low percentage of taxable properties and this doesn't help. It also runs legitimate business out of Norfolk. And for what? To build yet another parking garage or dorm building? Please. ODU has no inherent "right" to expand.