NATCHEZ &045; A Supreme Court ruling that expands municipalities’ eminent domain rights could have effects on communities in the Miss-Lou &045; although one Natchez official said the ruling would have to be applied carefully.

The Thursday ruling in a Connecticut case would allow cities to take over homes or land for economic development purposes, not just public projects.

&uot;In most cases it would be a good thing,&uot; said city engineer David Gardner, who pointed out that a large project bringing a lot of jobs to a community might outweigh the interests of individual property owners.

But Gardner said he would want to see such rules applied carefully.

&uot;You don’t want to start doing that for every little piece of economic development,&uot; he said. &uot;There’s no guarantee that all businesses will survive. But something that’s really concrete Š that’s different.&uot;

The 5-4 ruling allows local governments to size homes and businesses against the owners’ will for use as private development.

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the majority opinion, but Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote a scathing dissent stating the ruling would give more influence to richer businesses to take over poorer homes or businesses.

Previously, eminent domain has been limited to projects with public use such as roads or schools.

Natchez has had some similar requests under eminent domain, although the city has not done anything about those requests, Gardner said.

But he said that if the city takes advantage of the new ruling, he would like to see it happen &uot;case by case.&uot;

&uot;That’s something you have to be really careful about,&uot; he said.

City attorney Walter Brown agreed the ruling is a &uot;tough call.&uot;

&uot;It’s a victory for those who favor government taking private property,&uot; he said. &uot;It’s an important decision.&uot;

It will set the tone for lots of things.&uot;