Expensive eminent domain

The Home News is reporting that a NJ appeals court has upheld a $17.9 million decision costing Piscataway about 4 times as much as their original $4.3 million pricetag. This was a locally-notable eminent domain case because:

a) it was a visible and early effort to condemn a farm as a means for preserving the farmland as open space,
b) the owners really, really didn't want to sell to the government which made for good news coverage,
c) Jim McGreevey said "Machiavelli", and
d) (maybe) because it was a very visible property on a busy highway.

I'll be interested to see a little about how this decision was made.