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Holdout Ends, Letting a City Seize Property in Connecticut

NY TIMES
By AVI SALZMAN
July 1, 2006

NEW LONDON, Conn., June 30 — With eviction looming, the two remaining homeowners fighting the city's plans to replace their homes with offices, a hotel and new housing agreed to settle on Friday, ending a six-year battle that led to a historic Supreme Court ruling on governments' power of eminent domain.

"We're able to move on with our lives and look forward to remaining in the neighborhood," said Michael Cristofaro, whose family was one of the holdouts.

The settlements followed months of negotiations among the homeowners, the city and the New London Development Corporation that were overseen by state mediators.

The holdout homeowners were among seven in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood who sued the city, challenging its right to seize their property through eminent domain. The case eventually reached the United States Supreme Court, which issued a controversial 5-to-4 ruling last year that New London could take their homes for private development.

The five other homeowners have already settled. The dollar amounts of the settlements reached on Friday were not disclosed. Susette Kelo, a lead plaintiff in the case whose pink Victorian cottage became an icon in the battle to limit eminent domain, agreed to move her house to a new lot.

Ms. Kelo has not decided where she will move the house, but the state has agreed to pay the bill, said Scott Bullock, a lawyer from the nonprofit Institute for Justice who represented her. Mr. Bullock called the resolution "bittersweet," because Ms. Kelo had wanted to stay on her property.

No one answered the door at Ms. Kelo's house on Friday, and she did not return calls seeking comment.

Mr. Cristofaro said a few small concessions by the city made the difference.

His five-bedroom clapboard house on Goshen Street will be torn down, but the family has the option to buy property in the new development at a set price. The city also agreed to move the rhododendrons, yews and other plants his father, Pasquale, planted 30 years ago and to install a plaque in the development to honor Mr. Cristofaro's mother, Margherita, who fought the condemnation of her home until she died in 2003. "It restored a lot of respect and dignity to the family," Mr. Cristofaro said.

Ronald Angelo, a state official who helped negotiate the deals, said a key element to the settlements was getting the property owners more money.

After the Supreme Court ruling, several of the Fort Trumbull homeowners vowed to stay put, but they began to settle after the city increased legal and financial pressures. On June 5, the City Council voted to begin eviction proceedings.

William Von Winkle, who owned three rental properties in Fort Trumbull, held out until June 5. In an interview at his home on Friday, he said he settled because the state was willing to give him more money.

"When you look at my property, put these on," he said, adjusting a pair of sunglasses with dollar-sign holograms over the eyes.


Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company