NEWPORT — City commissioners Monday will once again grapple with a redevelopment plan for the proposed Newport Promenade project that would enable the city to seize property through eminent domain if necessary.

        Attorney Bob Blau said Fridayhe will be at the Monday night public hearing at the Newport city government building to argue against approval of the redevelopment plan.

        Mr. Blau, who represents property owners, says that the neighborhood in question does not meet state guidelines for a blighted area as required for use of eminent domain for a private development.

        At stake is a $100 million project that would include 52 single-family homes in the $300,000-$500,000 range and a commercial development including several large anchor stores, smaller shops and two or three restaurants.

        The development is planned for an area known as Wiedemann Hill in the city's Cote Brilliant neighborhood, bordered by I-471, Grand Avenue and Carothers Road, 10th Street, and Vine Street and Park Avenue.

        When the first public hearing on the redevelopment plan was held before city commission Feb. 4, Mr. Blau — representing property owners on Grand Avenue — challenged the city's contention that the neighborhood met the criteria for a blighted area.

        He was the attorney of record in a 1999 federal court case in which residents of a neighborhood in Highland Heights successfully thwarted that city's attempt to declare the area blighted.

        “I still don't see any distinction between this neighborhood and the properties in Highland Heights,” Mr. Blau said. “If necessary, we are prepared to go to court to stop this (plan).”

        He said people in the neighborhood who are opposed to the development project “can't go out and buy a comparable home in a comparable neighborhood for what they are being offered for their property. And this is not a blighted neighborhood.”

        Newport City Attorney Mike Schulkens said the city feels it is on solid ground in seeking approval of the redevelopment plan because there is ample evidence of blight as recognized by state law.

        John Stevens, project director for the developer, Neyer Properties, said Neyer already has options to buy some 80 percent of the properties needed for the development. He said there are 13 property owners who have not agreed to sell, all in the area where the commercial part of the project would be built.

        Work has already begun to clear the area on top of the hill where the homes will be built. Much of the hill has an unfettered view of downtown Cincinnati, the Ohio River and the surrounding hills.

        In the Highland Heights case, residents sued in U.S. District Court in Covington, claiming that their neighborhood was no more blighted than many others in Highland Heights and did not meet the criteria under KRS 99, an urban redevelopment and renewal statute.

        U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman, who toured the neighborhood, agreed.

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