Condemnation

• The Kansas eminent domain powers allow cities and/or other government corporations to acquire legal title to real estate through the condemnation process. Kansas Statutes Annotated sections 26-201 et seq. give cities the right to appropriate private property for public purposes after the governing body deems it necessary. Though the statute allows cities to take private property for city use for "any reason whatsoever," it cannot take fee simple title to real property through condemnation purely for street purposes.
  
  

Procedures

• Kansas cities cannot take any property through eminent domain unless they follow specific procedures as laid out in the statutes. Kansas Statutes Annotated section 26-201 requires cities to first enact a resolution that the taking is necessary. They must then authorize a licensed land surveyor or professional engineer to survey the proposed land. This resolution and authorization of the survey must be published in the official city newspaper. After this, the governing body must authorize for the acquisition of the land by passing an ordinance.
  
  

Compensation

• The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires that any time a government takes private property it must provide just compensation to the property owner. Kansas Statutes Annotated sections 26-505 et seq. require that appraisers assess the value of the property so that the state can determine the fair market value and pay this amount to the property owner. If the eminent domain process is used for private economic development, section 26-501b(f) states that the property owner must be compensated by being paid 200 percent of fair market value.
  
  

Limitations

• Kansas has limited the right of Cowley county to take specific eminent domain actions, according to Kansas Statutes Annotated 26-601. Cowley county may not use its eminent domain right to take land for recreational-use purposes. Also, if Cowley county takes any private property through eminent domain, that land cannot have any private development on it for 30 years after the taking. The county must also show that all sate and federal permits required to build on the proposed land be obtained before the county can use its eminent domain rights.