71.525. Condemnation of property of public utility or rural electric cooperative, restrictions, conditions--limitation. - Missouri Statutes

Condemnation of property of public utility or rural electriccooperative, restrictions, conditions--limitation.

71.525. 1. Except as provided in subsection 2 of thissection, no city, town or village may condemn the property of apublic utility, as defined in section 386.020, RSMo, or theproperty of a rural electric cooperative, as provided in chapter394, RSMo, if such property is used or useful in providingutility services and the city, town or village seeking to condemnsuch property, directly or indirectly, will use or proposes touse the property for the same purpose, or a purpose substantiallysimilar to the purpose that the property is being used by thepublic utility or rural electric cooperative.

2. A city, town or village may only condemn the property ofa public utility or the property of a rural electric cooperative,even if the property is used or useful in providing utilityservices by such utility or cooperative, if:

(1) The condemnation is necessary for the public purpose ofacquiring a nonexclusive easement or right-of-way across theproperty of such utility or cooperative and only if theacquisition will not materially impair or interfere with thecurrent use of such property by the utility or cooperative andwill not prevent or materially impair the utility or cooperativefrom any future expansion of its facilities on such property; or

(2) The property is solely and exclusively devoted to theprovision of street lighting or traffic signal service by suchutility in a city having a population of at least three hundredfifty thousand inhabitants located wholly or partially within acounty of the first classification with a charter form ofgovernment; or

(3) The property is owned by a water or sewer corporation,as defined in section 386.020, RSMo, with less than five hundredhook-ups.

3. The provisions of this section shall apply to allcities, towns and villages in this state, incorporated orunincorporated and no matter whether any statutoryclassification, special charter or constitutional charter or anyother provision of law appears to convey the power ofcondemnation of such property by implication.

4. If a city, town or village seeks to condemn the propertyof a public utility or rural electric cooperative, and theconditions in subsection 1 of this section do not apply, thissection does not limit the condemnation powers otherwisepossessed by such city, town or village.

(L. 1994 S.B. 709)