Private Sector Arrogance/Public Sector Loss: A Report on Eminent Domain From York County
By Marianne Clay
"…Nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."
U.S. Constitution, Fifth Amendment
Before he began spending his days in law offices and courtrooms, Peter Alecxih, Jr. was building high-end homes in Lancaster and York Counties and running his small business, Greystone Construction, in Columbia. Today, instead of working construction sites, Alecxih is running a legal gauntlet after his purchase of 79 acres. But not just any 79 acres. He purchased land offering panoramic views overlooking the Susquehanna River near Wrightsville, land part of the acreage known as Lauxmont Farms, and land that spreads beneath the pinnacle of nearby Sam Lewis State Park. Most significantly, he bought what others wanted badly enough to take under eminent domain.
Alecxih made the purchase for $1.75 million in April 2002 and then spent the next two years successfully gaining all the approvals from Lower Windsor Township to be the exclusive builder of 51 homes in a development he named "The Hill at Lauxmont Farms." He also installed water and sewer lines, without knowing two out of the three York County Commissioners and two non-profit organizations, the Lancaster-York Heritage Region and Farm and the Natural Lands Trust of York County, had other plans for his property. They wanted his land, plus another 469 acres of Lauxmont Farms plus more land outside Lauxmont for a proposed 700-acre Susquehanna Heritage Park, a far larger park than the 85-acre Sam Lewis State Park up the hill.
Mark Platts, president of the Lancaster-York Heritage Region, offered Alecxih $5 million for his 79 acres. Alecxih refused. “Not only was the amount a fraction of the land’s true value,” Alecxih explains, “but selling the property would have left me without inventory for my his construction business.”
In May 2004, after the County Commissioners voted 2-1 to condemn his land under eminent domain, Alecxih offered the County Commissioners a compromise, a way he thought York County could get a free park and he could stay in business. “Though I’ve tried,” Alecxih says, “I have yet to have a good-faith discussion with anyone on the other side.” Even though the land was already seized, the governmental entity taking the land has one year to reverse itself, and Alecxih hoped he could convince two Commissioners, specifically Lori Mitrick and Doug Kilgore, to change their minds and avoid the expensive and protracted legal battle that has ensued.
“Since they wanted the open space at the top of the hill for their park, I offered to give them that portion, for free,” Alecxih says. “I had already planned to keep the top of the hill open as a common area for the development. So I offered to make this land a public area for people to come and enjoy. They could get their park, and they could get it for free, while I could still build houses and save my business. But the Commissioners wanted everything, the whole piece. They didn’t want any building on that hill.”
With his compromise snubbed, Alecxih fought the taking of his property in court but lost. Now he is fighting for a fair price for the land he lost. Meanwhile, he has received no money for his land, and his life as a small, successful builder has crumbled. “I’ve lost everything. My construction company is totally destroyed.” He laid off all his employees, cashed in his assets, and his parents and his brother have mortgaged their homes to help him wage a battle for the land’s fair market value.
This past October, York County’s Board of Viewers valued Alecxih’s 79 acres at $10.5 million plus interest. York County has appealed that decision, citing a County appraisal of only $2 million. Alecxih, who believes York County was fortunate to be ordered to pay only $10.5 million and who has received appraisals at $17 and $17.5 million, has countered. Next, Judge Warren Clark of Bucks County is assigned to hear both appeals, and to determine, finally, the fair value of the land, by jury trial. “I’m hoping,” says Alecxih, “that we’ll get in front of the judge and the jury late this spring or early summer.”
For Alecxih, life during these past few years suggests the legal maelstrom described in Charles Dickens’ Bleak House. Yet, it all started so promisingly. In 1999, a client contracted Alecxih to build a home in a new development at Lauxmont Farms. That led to several more clients wanting Alecxih to build houses for them at the same location. Impressed by the high quality of his work, the Kohr family, whose 23 members live at Lauxmont where they raise animals and crops and run a wedding business, and their bankruptcy trustee, Leon Haller, offered to sell Alecxih 79 acres.
The Kohrs and Haller wanted to sell the parcel, because since the mid-1990s, the Kohrs have been subdividing and selling parts of what was the more than 1200-acre Lauxmont Farms to pay down the family’s $10 million debt. The late Ron and the late Laura Kohr fell into financial trouble when the standardbred race industry crashed in the mid-1980s, plunging their business of breeding and raising standardbred horses into trouble. Now their six grown children are committed to paying off the debt, but they cannot easily find qualified buyers. Recently, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court ordered some lots at Lauxmont, lots that are neither part of the Alecxih parcel nor part of the proposed park, to be sold at auction, and this land will be sold free and clear of liens, encumbrances and security interests. Certainly no property owner wants to experience what Alecxih has weathered.
“Most people think eminent domain means losing frontage to widen a road or to lay a pipeline,” says Alecxih. “They don’t know, just like I didn’t know, how the courts have expanded the definition from taking someone’s land to meet a need for a highway, a gas line, or something vital, to taking land to fulfill a want. I’ve also learned the law is skewed against the private landowner. They condemn your land, and then they set a price for it. In return, all you can do is try to fight, at your own expense. The law enables them to break you. In my situation, the County Commissioners went out and got my property appraised for $2 million, a sum millions below the real market value. Then they tried to make me accept it.”
Alecxih hopes his fight will help other property owners so they never experience his ordeal. His fight includes a plan to file a federal lawsuit charging York County with acting in bad faith and with misrepresenting the true value of the land to the public. “I believe I have a strong enough case to bring the light on this, so it can’t happen to someone else. I hope the next government agency thinks twice before they take someone’s property just because they would like to have it.”
Alecxih just might have public opinion on his side. In 2005, the Supreme Court upheld the use of eminent domain by the city of New London, Conn., after the city seized private property to sell to private developers. The city said developing the land would create jobs and increase tax revenues. Kelo Susette and others who lost their property sued, arguing the city violated the Fifth Amendment's takings clause and that taking private property to sell to private developers was not public use. To the shock of many, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in a 5-4 opinion, that the city's taking of private property to sell for private development did qualify as public use.
Alarmed by this further deterioration of individual property rights, public opinion has swayed strongly against eminent domain, particularly when used to take private property for non-essential purposes. Spurred by the debate over the seizing of Alecxih’s land as well as other controversies, ten people including the three incumbents are running in the May primary election for County Commissioner in York County. For Alecxih and many others, no less than the U.S. Constitution with its assurance of individual rights for “life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness” is at stake.
By Marianne Clay
"…Nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."
U.S. Constitution, Fifth Amendment
Before he began spending his days in law offices and courtrooms, Peter Alecxih, Jr. was building high-end homes in Lancaster and York Counties and running his small business, Greystone Construction, in Columbia. Today, instead of working construction sites, Alecxih is running a legal gauntlet after his purchase of 79 acres. But not just any 79 acres. He purchased land offering panoramic views overlooking the Susquehanna River near Wrightsville, land part of the acreage known as Lauxmont Farms, and land that spreads beneath the pinnacle of nearby Sam Lewis State Park. Most significantly, he bought what others wanted badly enough to take under eminent domain.
Alecxih made the purchase for $1.75 million in April 2002 and then spent the next two years successfully gaining all the approvals from Lower Windsor Township to be the exclusive builder of 51 homes in a development he named "The Hill at Lauxmont Farms." He also installed water and sewer lines, without knowing two out of the three York County Commissioners and two non-profit organizations, the Lancaster-York Heritage Region and Farm and the Natural Lands Trust of York County, had other plans for his property. They wanted his land, plus another 469 acres of Lauxmont Farms plus more land outside Lauxmont for a proposed 700-acre Susquehanna Heritage Park, a far larger park than the 85-acre Sam Lewis State Park up the hill.
Mark Platts, president of the Lancaster-York Heritage Region, offered Alecxih $5 million for his 79 acres. Alecxih refused. “Not only was the amount a fraction of the land’s true value,” Alecxih explains, “but selling the property would have left me without inventory for my his construction business.”
In May 2004, after the County Commissioners voted 2-1 to condemn his land under eminent domain, Alecxih offered the County Commissioners a compromise, a way he thought York County could get a free park and he could stay in business. “Though I’ve tried,” Alecxih says, “I have yet to have a good-faith discussion with anyone on the other side.” Even though the land was already seized, the governmental entity taking the land has one year to reverse itself, and Alecxih hoped he could convince two Commissioners, specifically Lori Mitrick and Doug Kilgore, to change their minds and avoid the expensive and protracted legal battle that has ensued.
“Since they wanted the open space at the top of the hill for their park, I offered to give them that portion, for free,” Alecxih says. “I had already planned to keep the top of the hill open as a common area for the development. So I offered to make this land a public area for people to come and enjoy. They could get their park, and they could get it for free, while I could still build houses and save my business. But the Commissioners wanted everything, the whole piece. They didn’t want any building on that hill.”
With his compromise snubbed, Alecxih fought the taking of his property in court but lost. Now he is fighting for a fair price for the land he lost. Meanwhile, he has received no money for his land, and his life as a small, successful builder has crumbled. “I’ve lost everything. My construction company is totally destroyed.” He laid off all his employees, cashed in his assets, and his parents and his brother have mortgaged their homes to help him wage a battle for the land’s fair market value.
This past October, York County’s Board of Viewers valued Alecxih’s 79 acres at $10.5 million plus interest. York County has appealed that decision, citing a County appraisal of only $2 million. Alecxih, who believes York County was fortunate to be ordered to pay only $10.5 million and who has received appraisals at $17 and $17.5 million, has countered. Next, Judge Warren Clark of Bucks County is assigned to hear both appeals, and to determine, finally, the fair value of the land, by jury trial. “I’m hoping,” says Alecxih, “that we’ll get in front of the judge and the jury late this spring or early summer.”
For Alecxih, life during these past few years suggests the legal maelstrom described in Charles Dickens’ Bleak House. Yet, it all started so promisingly. In 1999, a client contracted Alecxih to build a home in a new development at Lauxmont Farms. That led to several more clients wanting Alecxih to build houses for them at the same location. Impressed by the high quality of his work, the Kohr family, whose 23 members live at Lauxmont where they raise animals and crops and run a wedding business, and their bankruptcy trustee, Leon Haller, offered to sell Alecxih 79 acres.
The Kohrs and Haller wanted to sell the parcel, because since the mid-1990s, the Kohrs have been subdividing and selling parts of what was the more than 1200-acre Lauxmont Farms to pay down the family’s $10 million debt. The late Ron and the late Laura Kohr fell into financial trouble when the standardbred race industry crashed in the mid-1980s, plunging their business of breeding and raising standardbred horses into trouble. Now their six grown children are committed to paying off the debt, but they cannot easily find qualified buyers. Recently, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court ordered some lots at Lauxmont, lots that are neither part of the Alecxih parcel nor part of the proposed park, to be sold at auction, and this land will be sold free and clear of liens, encumbrances and security interests. Certainly no property owner wants to experience what Alecxih has weathered.
“Most people think eminent domain means losing frontage to widen a road or to lay a pipeline,” says Alecxih. “They don’t know, just like I didn’t know, how the courts have expanded the definition from taking someone’s land to meet a need for a highway, a gas line, or something vital, to taking land to fulfill a want. I’ve also learned the law is skewed against the private landowner. They condemn your land, and then they set a price for it. In return, all you can do is try to fight, at your own expense. The law enables them to break you. In my situation, the County Commissioners went out and got my property appraised for $2 million, a sum millions below the real market value. Then they tried to make me accept it.”
Alecxih hopes his fight will help other property owners so they never experience his ordeal. His fight includes a plan to file a federal lawsuit charging York County with acting in bad faith and with misrepresenting the true value of the land to the public. “I believe I have a strong enough case to bring the light on this, so it can’t happen to someone else. I hope the next government agency thinks twice before they take someone’s property just because they would like to have it.”
Alecxih just might have public opinion on his side. In 2005, the Supreme Court upheld the use of eminent domain by the city of New London, Conn., after the city seized private property to sell to private developers. The city said developing the land would create jobs and increase tax revenues. Kelo Susette and others who lost their property sued, arguing the city violated the Fifth Amendment's takings clause and that taking private property to sell to private developers was not public use. To the shock of many, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in a 5-4 opinion, that the city's taking of private property to sell for private development did qualify as public use.
Alarmed by this further deterioration of individual property rights, public opinion has swayed strongly against eminent domain, particularly when used to take private property for non-essential purposes. Spurred by the debate over the seizing of Alecxih’s land as well as other controversies, ten people including the three incumbents are running in the May primary election for County Commissioner in York County. For Alecxih and many others, no less than the U.S. Constitution with its assurance of individual rights for “life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness” is at stake.