Committee hears bill to allow property owners to reclaim unused eminent-domain land after 25 years; bill held in committee

The Legislature's Committee on Disaster Recovery, Infrastructure and Planning on Wednesday heard testimony and debate on Bill No. 36-0070, a proposal to let previous owners or their successors petition a court to reclaim land taken by eminent domain if the government has not devoted the property to its intended public use within 25 years.

The bill would add a new section to Title 28, chapter 19 of the Virgin Islands Code. Under the proposal, a former owner or successor could file a petition in the Superior Court to have the property returned after repaying the original compensation; the bill also includes a 10-year bar preventing the government from initiating another condemnation on the returned parcel. Sponsor Senator Alma Francis Heiliger said the measure seeks to correct long-term government land holdings that never produced the public uses promised. "It is unfair that our government takes people's properties and we don't use them and then start to utilize it as if though they're part of, our inventory," Heiliger said during her presentation.

Supporters and government officials described the bill's intent as accountability for public land use. Lisa…