Kelo v. City of New London, Connecticut

Facts

New London is a city located in southeastern Connecticut. After decades of economic decline, a state agency in 1990 designated New London as a “distressed municipality.” In 1996, the Federal Government closed the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, which cost New London residents 1,500 jobs. In 1998, New London’s unemployment rate was almost double the rest of the State, and its population of under 24,000 was the lowest since 1920. These conditions prompted state and local officials to target New London for economic revitalization. To that end, New London Development Corporation, a private nonprofit entity established years earlier, was reactivated to assist the city in planning economic development. In February, the pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. announced it would build a $300 million dollar research facility on a site adjacent to where the economic development was planned. As such, the defendant, City of New London, planned a massive multi-parcel development plan. This plan would acquire land on a number of different parcels and transfer them to different parties, some of those parties being other private parties, in an effort to accomplish a large, planned development. The plaintiff, Kelo, had a nice home situated on one of the parcels marked for redevelopment. When Kelo refused to sell, the City of New London used its eminent domain powers to initiate condemnation proceedings.