Posted on 12/18/2017 12:12:33 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
A Fayetteville lawyer said construction of the Outer Loop highway connecting Interstate 95 north and south of Fayetteville stands to be delayed because of recent rulings in long-running lawsuits between the N.C. Department of Transportation and numerous landowners throughout the state.
The rulings, one in Cumberland County Superior Court and another by the state Court of Appeals, rejected attempts by the Department of Transportation to buy people’s land under eminent domain without first paying the owners for the years that they were restricted by law in how they could use their property. Each ruling, by coincidence, was issued Nov. 21.
“It means the Fayetteville Outer Loop is dead in the water,” said the lawyer, Neil Yarborough. He sued the state on behalf of about 80 property owners who say the government illegally took control of their land without buying it or paying them for the lost value that resulted from this action.
The Department of Transportation counters that construction of the Outer Loop is ongoing in western Cumberland County. The 39-mile highway, 14 miles of which are open, is projected to be finished in five years.
“It’s not ‘dead in the water,’ ” DOT spokesman Andrew Barksdale said.
The state is scheduled to award a contract this month for the next several miles to be built, the DOT website says.
Numerous lawsuits have bedeviled the Outer Loop and other state highway projects for years. They challenged a 1987 law that was designed to reduce the costs of acquiring land for road construction. The law, called the Map Act, let the Department of Transportation lock down properties along a proposed road or highway route without buying them or otherwise paying the owners.
The Map Act was repealed in 2016, but while it was in effect, Yarborough said, owners were largely prevented from developing or subdividing their land. These are things that could increase the value of the land, making it more expensive for the government to buy it.
Yarborough contends some landowners were prevented from doing maintenance, such as plumbing and roof repairs. If the work required a permit, Yarborough said, it was not allowed.
Transportation spokeswoman Greer Beaty disagrees that landowners were blocked from making repairs or improvements. There was a process under the Map Act by which owners could seek to maintain, subdivide or improve their properties, she said. Each piece of property is unique, she said, and “the decisions were made property by property.”
Regardless, landowners sued the state in droves saying the law took value and use from their property — the Carolina Journal political news site said there are nearly 500 such cases.
These alleged the government owed them money for the lost use of their property. Some had been under Map Act restrictions for nearly 20 years, the Court of Appeals ruling says. The fifth amendment of the U.S. Constitution says the government is not allowed to take a person’s land without just compensation.
The landowners include Mary King, who lives on King Road on the western edge of Cumberland County, and Sarah and Ted Chappell, who last year moved out of their home on Raeford Road by Lake Rim but still haven’t been paid for it. Yarborough said the Map Act restrictions were imposed on their property in 2006.
Some of King’s road frontage is to be taken when King Road’s route is adjusted when the Outer Loop is built nearby, according to a construction map.
The loop is slated to pass through the Chappells’ home.
King said she wanted to subdivide her 2.23 acre lot into three lots so that she could sell two of them for residential homes, but the Map Act stopped her.
Chappell’s daughter, Tricia Wood, said her parents had hoped to spend the rest of their lives in their house, which is on 3 acres near Lake Rim. “That was supposed to be their forever home,” Wood said.
But the Outer Loop is slated to pass through the house.
The Chappells moved out last year. The plumbing was failing and the house needed other maintenance, but “they were told they couldn’t do improvements,” Wood said.
Instead, the Chappells’ home has been empty for more than a year.
Yarborough contends that the state owes King, the Chappells and other property owners two payments when they acquire their land for the Outer Loop and other projects that used the Map Act.
First, he said, they need to be paid for their lost use and lost value from when the Map Act restrictions were imposed on them, plus interest and lawyer fees.
Second, he said, the state will have to pay them to buy the land when it finally acquires it to build the roads.
The litigation is expected to proceed to the North Carolina Supreme Court.
In the meantime, DOT spokeswoman Beaty said, the state is allowed to take possession of land while a condemnation lawsuit is underway. If a piece of property is critical to the project, she said, the state can put a deposit down and proceed with construction while the lawsuit over the final payment proceeds.
With Fayetteville on the west side of the Cape Fear River and I-95 on the East side this project has been badly needed for a long time.
Coming into Fayetteville on the north side the route did take out some homes but damage was limited. Fort Bragg knocked down one of it’s post housing subdivision and the military allowed the highway to run inside it’s southern boundary.
Coming down the left side around Cliffdale Road it’s coming through two very large open fields.
It’s only when it gets down to Raeford Road that the route gets more congested.
I’d say the route planners did a good job with what they had to work with.
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