Opinion ID: 2333047
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Necessity Preserves Balance

Text: The members of the General Assembly are the representatives elected to protect the Article I, Section 8 private property rights of Delaware's citizens, such as the Cannons. The General Assembly has properly placed the burden on the State to demonstrate  necessity  as a condition precedent to taking private property for a public purpose. [50] Title 17, section 132(c)(4) of the Delaware Code permits DelDOT to discharge its duties under section 132(b) by enabling DelDOT to [a]cquire by condemnation or otherwise any land, easement, franchise, material or property, which, in the judgment of the Department shall be necessary.  It is uncontested that DelDOT could not build the Route 54 project without providing a proposal for wetlands mitigation that was approved by the Corps. In order to condemn the Cannons' additional property for compensatory mitigation, however, DelDOT had to establish that specific condemnation of that particular parcel was necessary to commence the Route 54 project. In this case, the record reflects that DelDOT has failed to demonstrate that it was necessary to take the Cannons' additional property for the public purpose of improving Route 54. That purpose could have been accomplished by satisfying the Corps' requirement for wetlands mitigation with other land already owned by the State or other land purchased by the State from a willing seller. The basis for these conclusions is found in the analysis of the law and the facts that follows.