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KDOT to use eminent domain
Published 8/29/2008 in News : Area coverage
By STEPHANIE FARLEY
sfarley@gctelegram.com
The Kansas Department of Transportation has filed an eminent domain petition to acquire the remainder of land for the four-lane project involving U.S. Highway 50.
According to Chris Small, staff attorney with KDOT, there are 25 to 30 landowners that KDOT has been unable to reach a settlement with. Small said the inability to settle with some property owners stems from various reasons, but that KDOT always wants to purchase the land "if we can."
"We always want to work with the landowners," he said, adding the state wants to pay them what the land's worth. "It can be a trying process for them."
Before KDOT pursues eminent domain, or condemnation, the department spends about six months trying to negotiate with property owners, Small said. Eminent domain basically amounts to the state seizing a citizen's private or other property, or rights in property while providing due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent.
"We prefer to avoid condemnation if we can," Small said. The negotiating process starts with an appraisal of the property and an offer by the state, with the department trying to reach an agreement with the owner, he said. Even before that, he said, the public has a chance to voice their opinion on the project during the design stage.
But the process of acquiring right of way and property for the project has come to the point of condemnation. KDOT is publishing a petition that lists the tracts of land and property owners the department has yet to settle with. During the process, Small said, negotiations continue, and the department settles what it can.
The next step in the process of eminent domain, or determining just compensation for the property owners, is a consideration hearing set for 9 a.m. Sept. 16 in Finney County District Court.
During the process, Small said, the court will appoint three appraisers who evaluate the property and determine a price -- between a cost figure from the appraisers, KDOT and property owner, the judge will decide on just compensation.
The project
According to KDOT spokesman Kirk Hutchinson, the four-lane divided highway project stretches about 8.4 miles from Garden City to Holcomb.
The project, he said, is what KDOT calls "an upgradable expressway," which means KDOT is buying right of way to someday change the intersections to interchanges. The project is currently slated for two interchanges: one where the highway intersects with Big Lowe Road and another at the U.S. Highway 83/50 junction. The current Tyson plant access road will be closed, and a new access road will be constructed.
The four lanes begin around IBP Road and taper off to two lanes just east of Third Street, Hutchinson said.
Intersections along the stretch will include Chmelka and VFW roads, Third Street and Anderson Road. There won't be access at current intersections of Little Lowe Road, Eighth Street and Sherlock Road.
Hutchinson said the project's bid letting is set for March 2009. The project's total cost is estimated at $83.17 million, with construction estimated at $66.9 million.
The list
The petition includes names of property owners like Rodger Funk, Carlene Schweer and Ed Banning.
For Funk, whose property is across the road from Holcomb's high school, the highway project is taking the north side of the farm off. "We can live with that," he said.
But what's irritating and frustrating, he said, is that as the project gets under way and Tyson's current access road is closed and a new one created, the new road will come through the middle of Funk's farm.
"I can't see why they need to cut the farm in two," he said, adding all of the plant traffic will go through his property and then in front of the high school.
The road will go in the middle of the irrigated farm, he said, which is a "bad deal" for Funk and his operation. Once the road goes in, he won't be able to put an irrigation pivot on the field. They produce a lot of alfalfa on the property, too, and have to transport it out when they're done. It'll be hard to transport anything during Tyson shift changes, he said, because of the tremendous amount of traffic.
"It's what they're going to do," Funk's son, Boyd, said of KDOT and the project, adding he can understand why they want to do the project. It just doesn't help their farm any, he said.
But while Boyd Funk said he and other property owners might not like it, he enjoys driving on nice roads.
The downside, he said, is his family has always farmed and the project affects their farming. The good part is that, at some point, the property value could increase because of the project and the land would be an opportunity for different development.
It could end up being a good deal, Boyd Funk said. There are industries and companies that need highway access, and the Funk farm land will give them access.
He said the city of Holcomb has talked to him about development of the family's land. And it'd be difficult to farm ground with an access road in the middle, so Funk is considering ideas of development of another kind. He said it won't be the way it's always been, but it's a challenge.
"And I kind of enjoy the new challenge," he said.
A fair price
Schweer leases the ground she owns to her brother-in-law. The land is a quarter of a section across from the Crazy House and sits in the northwest corner of the intersection at the bypass and VFW Road.
They've decided not to settle at this time, Schweer said, because they don't feel KDOT's offering enough money for the property. Schweer wouldn't comment on the amount offered. They feel the land is worth more than what KDOT has stated it's willing to pay Schweer. So now, it's at a stalemate, she said.
But the amount of land is "so minimal," she said, they've already adjusted for it knowing they won't have the use of that land. According to the petition, Schweer's tract is 6.11 acres, which contains about an acre of existing right of way resulting in an acquisition of 5.17 acres, "more or less."
Banning said he farms his ground with another property owner near the intersection of Anderson Road and the bypass, and the original offer from the state wasn't satisfactory. He suspects that's true for a lot of the property owners, saying "there's a lot of names on that list."
Banning said the comparable sales price the appraisers used, at least for his land, wasn't very good. The comparables used were from property too far from this area, he said, adding he and other landowners can come up with comparable sales from more recent land sales more realistic as to what the land is worth.
Banning also manages land across the road. He said the state hasn't been "antagonistic" or difficult to deal with, and that they're interested in making a fair deal. But the appraisers weren't looking at the best comparables, he said.
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