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After weeks of vocal worries from some residents that a local blight designation could lead to eminent domain abuse, city leaders and area legislators want to clarify state law to bar that from happening.

Regional Economic Development Inc. Director Mike Brooks is asking area legislators to change the state statute governing enhanced enterprise zones so that a local government's declaration of blight, required to create an EEZ, can't be used to meet the blight requirement for other laws.

The proposal comes after the Columbia City Council passed a resolution declaring much of the eastern half of the city blighted as a step toward establishing an EEZ.

City leaders want to create the EEZ to offer business incentives to attract companies, especially manufacturers. The EEZ statute allows a local government to designate an area where certain industries can qualify for state income tax credits and local property tax abatement after meeting thresholds for new jobs and investment. But the blight designation is what galvanized many residents, mainly in regard to eminent domain. "We're simply listening to the people's concerns and understand that anything that can be done to address those concerns, we want to do that," Brooks said.

Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, said he thinks there is a good chance the language can be added to the EEZ statute. "I think it probably takes care of the problem," he said.

Indeed, blight has been used for the taking of property by Missouri municipalities, and courts have almost always deferred to local governments in defining what constitutes a blighted area. After the U.S. Supreme Court upheld local governments' broad authority to condemn property in Kelo v. New London, the Missouri General Assembly sought to tighten its eminent domain statutes in 2006.

Some parts of the law turned out well, such as a requirement that homeowners be paid 125 percent of fair market value for their property, said Dale Whitman, a University of Missouri law professor who studies property law. Other parts were not written tightly, such as the requirement that municipalities must find that a "preponderance" of property in a large blighted area meets the state's definition before condemning, he said.

In 2007, a Missouri appeals court ruling found that local governments need not "make a specific finding for each parcel" when taking eminent domain action on a large blighted area. And the court defined "preponderance" as the square footage of the whole area, not a preponderance of the total parcels.

Missouri courts are "among the worst in the country in terms of giving governments almost unquestioned deference" in defining blight for eminent domain use, said Dave Roland, director of litigation for the Freedom Center of Missouri.

Whitman said courts have become "a bit more demanding" in terms of the evidence they require from municipalities to prove blight. "The courts are very aware of the interest in the subject that was generated by the Kelo case," he said. "Judges read the newspaper, too, and I think they're simply more willing to take a closer look at what cities do than they were pre-Kelo."

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Officials seek change in EEZ statute