Pfeifer v. City of Little Rock

Pfeifer v. City of Little Rock was a lawsuit filed by Eugene Pfeifer III in 2000. Pfeifer argued that park revenue bonds could not be used to purchase the site of the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park because the land had not been zoned as parkland by the City of Little Rock. Pfeifer at the time owned 2.944 acres of land to be condemned and repurposed for the Library. Tom Carpenter represented the City of Little Rock in the case. The city had already sold $4 million in bonds through Stephens Inc. and anticipated selling another $16 million. Pulaski County Court Judge Vann Smith rendered a judgment in favor of the city in November 2000 and awarded Pfeifer $400,000 as fair market value for the condemnation.

Pfeifer's attorney's appealed the case in May 2001. In their Arkansas Supreme Court briefs filed in October 2001 attorneys for the plaintiff argued that the City of Little Rock had improperly exercised its powers of eminent domain to seize Pfeifer's land for the Clinton Presidential Center site because it was not destined to become a public park. On November 1, 2001, the Supreme Court of Arkansas returned a unanimous verdict on behalf of the defendant in the case, ruling that the City of Little Rock's action in taking the land was proper.

References

• Elizabeth Albanese, "Eminent Complaining," Bond Buyer, 338 (October 30, 2001): 47.
• "Arguments in Clinton Library Case," New York Times, October 26, 2001.
• "Clinton Library Gets Green Light," American Libraries, 32.11 (December 2001): 22.
• David Firestone, "A Fight Over Land for Library," New York Times,May 2, 2001.
• Kevin Sack, "Clinton Library Lawsuit Rejected," New York Times, November 2, 2001.
• M.H. Stiegler, "Land Condemned for Presidential Library," The Appraisal Journal, 70.4 (October 2002): 357.