Opinion ID: 2647906
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Idaho’s General Eminent Domain Statutes

Text: Idaho’s general eminent domain statutes do not expressly grant the City the power to exercise eminent domain extraterritorially for any purpose. Instead, under those statutes, “[a]ny municipality at its option may exercise the their Constitution had declared what are public uses, it then devolved upon the Legislature to provide a procedure for exercising the right of eminent domain or subjecting lands to such public uses.”); Potlatch Lumber Co. v. Peterson, 88 P. 426, 432 (Idaho 1906) (“Thus by legislative enactment [Article 1 § 14] of the Constitution is made effective.”). 8 ALLIANCE V. CITY OF IDAHO FALLS right of eminent domain . . . for any of the uses and purposes mentioned in section 7-701.” Idaho Code § 7-720.2 Section 7-701, in turn, specifies eleven different “public uses.” See § 7-701(1)–(11). Relevant here, paragraph (11) authorizes the use of eminent domain for “[e]lectric distribution and transmission lines for the delivery, furnishing, distribution, and transmission of electric current for power, lighting, heating or other purposes; and structures, facilities and equipment for the production, generation, and manufacture of electric current for power, lighting, heating or other purposes.” § 7-701(11). Significantly, neither § 7-720 nor § 7-701(11) outlines where municipalities may use their eminent domain power. Certainly, § 7-720 does not contain any language limiting the exercise of the eminent domain power to within the geographic limits of a municipality. But in the eminent domain context, the absence of such a limitation in a general grant of eminent domain power normally is not construed as an authorization to exercise the power extraterritorially. See 11 McQuillin The Law of Municipal Corporations § 32:76 (3d ed. 2013) (“[A] municipality cannot condemn lands within the state but outside its own corporate limits unless the power has been delegated by the legislature or granted by the state constitution. The legislature may delegate such power, as frequently has been done in express terms.” (footnotes omitted) (emphasis added)); see also 26 Am. Jur. 2d Eminent Domain § 27 (2013) (“It may be provided for by statute that municipalities may condemn land beyond their limits. However, it has been held that a grant of power to municipal corporations to condemn ‘any’ land for ‘any’ municipal or 2 Except where otherwise noted, all citations and references to “section” or “§” are citations or references to provisions of the Idaho Code. ALLIANCE V. CITY OF IDAHO FALLS 9 public purpose does not include land outside the city limits.” (footnotes omitted)). Consistent with these authorities, the Idaho Supreme Court requires that “statutes conferring the power [of eminent domain] must be strictly construed.” McKenney v. Anselmo, 416 P.2d 509, 514 (Idaho 1966). Moreover, the Idaho Legislature has expressly granted cities extraterritorial eminent domain power for purposes other than constructing electric transmission lines. For example, § 50-320(A) grants cities the power to “exercise the right of eminent domain under the provisions of [Chapter 7]” to acquire “lands not exceeding [80] acres in [1] body outside of the corporate limits” for the purpose of constructing a cemetery. (emphasis added). Likewise, § 21-401 authorizes municipalities to “acquire by . . . condemnation . . . lands either wholly or partly within or without the boundaries or corporate limits of” the municipality “for the purpose of constructing and maintaining aviation fields, airports, hangars and other air navigation facilities.” (emphasis added). These express grants of extraterritorial eminent domain power evidence that (1) the Idaho Legislature knows how to grant extraterritorial eminent domain power to the cities of Idaho and (2) does so expressly and for a specific purpose when it intends that the cities have that power. Therefore, the absence of an express grant of extraterritorial eminent domain power in §§ 7-720 and 7-701(11) evidences that the Idaho legislature did not grant such power in the general eminent domain statutes.