Ohio Code 163.021 – Taking necessary for public use – blight – veto
(A) No agency shall appropriate real property except as necessary and for a public use. In any appropriation, the taking agency shall show by a preponderance of the evidence that the taking is necessary and for a public use.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 163.021
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Blighted parcel: means either of the following:
(1) A parcel that has one or more of the following conditions:
(a) A structure that is dilapidated, unsanitary, unsafe, or vermin infested and that because of its condition has been designated by an agency that is responsible for the enforcement of housing, building, or fire codes as unfit for human habitation or use;
(b) The property poses a direct threat to public health or safety in its present condition by reason of environmentally hazardous conditions, solid waste pollution, or contamination;
(c) Tax or special assessment delinquencies exceeding the fair value of the land that remain unpaid thirty-five days after notice to pay has been mailed. See Ohio Code 1.08
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Property: means real and personal property. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Veto: The procedure established under the Constitution by which the President/Governor refuses to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevents its enactment into law. A regular veto occurs when the President/Governor returns the legislation to the house in which it originated. The President/Governor usually returns a vetoed bill with a message indicating his reasons for rejecting the measure. In Congress, the veto can be overridden only by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.
(B) Before an agency appropriates property based on a finding that the area is a blighted area or a slum, the agency shall do both of the following:
(1) Adopt a comprehensive development plan that describes the public need for the property. The plan shall include at least one study documenting the public need. All of the costs of developing the plan shall be publicly financed.
(2) If the agency is governed by a legislative body, obtain a resolution from that legislative body affirming the public need for the property.
(C) No park board, park district, board of directors of a conservancy district, incorporated association with a purpose of establishing or preserving public parks and memorial sites, or similar park authority shall exercise any power of eminent domain to appropriate real property outside the county or counties in which the park authority is located unless the appropriation has the written approval of the legislative authority of each county in which the property is located, other than the county or counties in which the park authority is located.
(D) No agency shall appropriate property based on a finding that the parcel is a blighted parcel or that the area is a blighted area or slum by making that finding in, or in conjunction with, an emergency ordinance or resolution.
(E) If an appropriation is by a public agency that is not elected and an owner has provided the public agency with a written objection to the appropriation, the elected officials of the public agency or elected individual that appointed the unelected agency may veto that appropriation. If the unelected public agency was appointed by more than one public agency or elected individual, a majority vote of the elected officials of the appointing public agencies or elected individuals is required to veto the appropriation. If the public agency that is not elected is a state agency or instrumentality such as a university, the governor has the veto authority. The governor may delegate that authority but may not delegate that authority to the unelected agency that seeks the appropriation.