A Rare Example of the Beneficial Power of Eminent Domain

Usually the government surreptitiously works with developers to acquire private land through the use of eminent domain. In this case, however, the developer was the one who had its land taken for the good of the public. Read the article below and visit www.blynchlaw.com to learn about the many aspects of eminent domain. 

As discussed in the Kinston article, North Carolina native Danny Bernstein is an avid hiker-turned-author. She discovered there was very little written about the 12,000 acres of DuPont State Recreational Forest, which came to be through DuPont Corporation. Through her investigative journey, she discovered that in 1997 a portion of it almost became "a playground for the rich," when DuPont sold its silicon plant along with three of the forest's most prominent waterfalls to Sterling Diagnostics, a clinical lab production company, who later sold a portion of the land to a film manufacturer and another portion, which included the waterfalls, to a private developer. 

Though the private developer planned luxurious vacation residences, there was an enormous amount of public backlash. The letter campaigns and lobbying efforts led by conservation groups had a large effect and ultimately succeeded in preventing the development, as the state acquired the property through eminent domain in 2000.

Though governmental bodies are able to take private property through the power of eminent domain, but not developers, they oftentimes work in conjunction with developers or later sell the land to developers at a profit. Read the full, atypical story at https://www.kinston.com/subscriber/20200907/local-authorrsquos-latest-book-tells-history-of-dupont-forest.