NEW YORK, NY September 05, 2008 —Supporters and opponents of Columbia University's planned expansion into Manhattanville presented their case at a public hearing this week.

Nick Sprayregen owns Tuck-it-away Storage, one of the two holdout businesses in the area. He says the process to determine whether the area is blighted has been flawed. Property must be deemed a blight in order to allow eminent domain.

SPRAYREGEN: The more that they continue to trample over everyone's rights, the stronger that feeling gets, on my part, to make this a test case, and to change the way the laws are written and the way the regulations are interpreted by the courts.

Members of the State Legislature and Columbia's president testified at the hearing. But the Empire State Development Corporation's board, which will make the final decision, wasn't there.

ESDC's board members will review the testimony before voting at the end of this year.