Appeals court backs condemnation of property for East Patrol campus

The condemnation action for a parcel of Kansas City property included in the new East Patrol Division police station and crime laboratory construction was fair, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday.

Telester Ameena Powell had appealed a Jackson County jury verdict that awarded her far less than she believed the property was worth, according to a ruling from a three-judge panel of the Missouri Western District Court of Appeals.

Though appraisers initially valued her property in the 2600 block of Brooklyn Avenue at a maximum of $55,000, she turned down city offers of up to $90,000.

In 2012, she told reporters that the city had backed homeowners into a corner in its bid to acquire 127 parcels of property for the project. And Powell said she didn’t believe a new police campus would make the area safer or spur economic development.

But after the city moved to condemn the property, Powell told a Jackson County jury that she believed the property — which included a home built in 1895 — had a fair market value of $140,000.

Jurors returned a verdict finding the value of her property at $55,000.

Powell appealed, challenging both the city’s condemnation and the court’s jurisdiction. The appeals panel sided with the city.

“In sum, because the record demonstrates that the city met all of the requirements for good faith negotiations, Powell has failed to demonstrate that the court lacked authority to grant the city’s condemnation petition,” Judge Karen King Mitchell wrote.

This story was originally published October 7, 2014 at 10:30 AM with the headline "Appeals court backs condemnation of property for East Patrol campus."