Maine residents: Beware! Your land is not yours to do with as you want. If a municipality wants it, they can take it by eminent domain.

According to state statutes, Title 23, Section 3023, certain conditions must exist before taking; but apparently the town of St. Albans, led by the current chairman of the board of selectmen, Curt Lombard, who made the motion to take my land by eminent domain on Jan. 20, 2003, chose not to adhere to state law.

One of three reasons must exist before taking by eminent domain. 1. Public exigency. (An immediate need.) At the Feb. 17, 2003 selectmen’s meeting, then board member Harry Bridge stated that if there are future upgrades, they are not in the planning at this time. Condition No. 1 fails.

2. Municipality is unable to purchase the property at what municipal officers deem a reasonable valuation. No offer or negotiation was ever made. Condition No. 2 fails.

3. Defective title. (Black’s Law Dictionary definition: “Title that cannot legally convey the property to which it applies.”) I have a warranty deed to the property in question; the bank’s title insurance company would like to know where the defect is. The town attorney, at the eminent domain proceedings at the March 1, 2003 town meeting stated, “I haven’t undertaken any title search, so we are not prepared to say that the stonewall is the boundary.”

My question to Lombard and Town Manager Larry Post, is how did you determine a title defect before the taking if the town attorney had never undertaken any title search? Condition No. 3 fails.

How can the Maine Supreme Judicial Court make a decision on the briefs that have been filed when records presented to the court show all of the above conditions failed? For more information, visit our Web site; www.stalbansmaine.com.

Gary Jordan Sr.

St. Albans