North Carolina Using Eminent Domain To Seize Homes and a Church for Electric Car Factory

[mountaineer]

North Carolina's current plans to build a factory for VinFast, an electric vehicle company based in Vietnam, would require displacing a total of 27 homes, five businesses, and Merry Oaks Baptist Church, which has stood on its spot since 1888.

North Carolina Using Eminent Domain To Seize Homes and a Church for Electric Car Factory
Under the Kelo v. New London Supreme Court decision, a state can take private land to give to a private developer for almost any reason it wants.
Joe Lancaster | 3.13.2023 2:00 PM

VinFast is the first company to develop electric vehicles in its native Vietnam, and it's now making inroads into the American market. Last year, it announced it would build a factory in North Carolina that would manufacture both electric cars and batteries. Then, last week, the company said it would not be able to begin production at the facility until 2025, rather than the initial summer 2024 target.

An upstart company needing extra time to fulfill its promises is hardly news. But in this case, a lot hangs in the balance, as the North Carolina government has pledged to use eminent domain to evict multiple homeowners, businesses, and a church.

When Gov. Roy Cooper announced the deal in March 2022, he called the project "transformative" and said it would "bring many good jobs to our state." CNBC cited the project when it named North Carolina America's Top State for Business, marveling that Cooper, a Democrat, was able to strike such business-friendly deals with a General Assembly dominated by Republicans. ...

In exchange, the state promised incentives totaling $1.2 billion, including $450 million toward site preparation; $400 million from Chatham County, where the facility would be located; and a $316 million grant over 32 years in which the company is reimbursed for the state income tax money its employees pay.

But taxpayer money isn't the only thing the state is giving away. As part of its site preparation process, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) also planned roadway improvements to accommodate the traffic a new factory would create. Those plans would require displacing a total of 27 homes, five businesses, and Merry Oaks Baptist Church, which has stood on its spot since 1888. ...

Reason magazine

See also: Despite threats, Merry Oaks community persists.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

@mountaineer

"Under the Kelo v. New London Supreme Court decision, a state can take private land to give to a private developer for almost any reason it wants."

Not exactly.

Kelo said that the 5th Amendment did not prohibit states from taking private land to give to a private developer.  In other words, you can't use the U.S. Constitution as a shield against an eminent domain action on that ground.  That's an important distinction, because some states have their own constitutional provisions that do not permit the state government to do that, and the Supreme Court in Kelo said that there may be other protections in state law that might apply within that state.

In Ohio, there was a post-Kelo case In the Ohio Supreme Court where it was held that the Ohio Constitution did not permit the taking of private land for the state to turn over to a private developer. 

https://www.leagle.com/decision/2006463110ohiost3d3531400

Proud to say that I'm one of the attorneys listed in that case as representing one of the amici.  We were representing a public-interest outfit.  Put in a crap-ton of (mostly) pro-bono work on it, so it was nice to get the win.

Anyway, I'm not sure what the law is in North Carolina, but Kelo doesn't prevent states from providing greater eminent domain protection.  So as long as the seizing entity is the state and not the feds, you can still win under state law.  Now, if the use is something like public roads, etc., you're generally screwed.