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

Heading: General Power to Acquire and Use Land

Text: The City’s general power to acquire and use “lands outside [its] corporate limits” does not fairly imply that the City can use the power of eminent domain to acquire easements there. § 50-220. The City cites no authority to support the proposition that the power to acquire and use real property through voluntary means implies the power of eminent domain. The absence of any authority for the City’s position gives rise to a “fair, reasonable, substantial doubt” that this power can be implied from § 50-220. City of Grangeville, 777 P.2d at 1211. Thus, we must conclude that 6 The City also argues that the extraterritorial eminent domain power can be traced to statutes authorizing the City to buy and sell excess electrical power. However, there is, at best, a tangential connection between (1) the authorization to sell excess electrical power and (2) the authority to exercise the power of eminent domain to construct power lines to facilitate the transmission of that power within the City’s system for the purpose of supplying its customers. The former does not “fairly impl[y]” the latter. Black, 834 P.2d at 310. Moreover, the City does not argue that it seeks to build the North Loop lines for the purpose of buying and selling power from other sources. 14 ALLIANCE V. CITY OF IDAHO FALLS § 50-220 does not grant extraterritorial eminent domain power to the City.