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Archive | 2023

May 9, 2023

Iowa Court Denys the Right to Enter Land for Surveys. What Does This Mean for New York?

The Des Moines Register reported that a Clay County district judge ruled that a state law allowing pipeline companies to survey property owners’ land without permission is unconstitutional, delivering a victory to landowners who have been battling against proposed carbon capture pipeline projects. The ruling came after Navigator CO2 Ventures sued Martin Koenig last year, saying he had repeatedly blocked the Omaha, Nebraska, company from surveying his land near Sioux Rapids in northwest Iowa. Navigator, one of three companies that want to build a carbon capture pipeline across Iowa, said… read more

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Posted in Access, Eminent Domain, Possession, Survey
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May 4, 2023

No Choo-Choo for Only One Person

Sparta, Georgia land owners have teamed up with the Institute for Justice to challenge a private railroad’s attempt to take their land by eminent domain for a rail spur that would benefit one private business. The Institute’s web page provides detailed information of the case, and we quote their release here: A private railroad company does not get to exercise the government’s power of eminent domain for the benefit of a private business. But in one small town in Georgia, that’s exactly what a railroad company is attempting to do…. read more

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Posted in Eminent Domain, Eminent Domain Abuse, Railroad Takings
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May 2, 2023

Another Look at Waters of the United States

On October 18, 2022, we wrote about Sackett v U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ____ US ____ (No. 21-454). We wrote, the question presented in Petitioners’ brief is, “Did the Ninth Circuit set forth the proper test for determining whether wetlands are ‘waters of the United States’ under the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1362(7)?” The logic of the designation is difficult to follow.  The property is across the street from Priest Lake, Idaho.  The lake is navigable water.  There is no water path from the lake to the Petitioners’… read more

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Posted in Clean Water Act, Navigable Waters, WOTUS
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Valuing the Special Purpose Property

          On occasion, one will encounter a property which is so unusual that it cannot be valued by the comparable sales (or market data approach) or by capitalization of income.  When that happens, the cost approach will be utilized.           In the cost approach, an appraiser values the property premised on the value of the land and then adds what it would cost to build a new structure.  The value is based on reproduction costs less observed depreciation.  All increment costs are also considered and added to the value.  The… read more

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Posted in Condemnation, Cost Approach, Special Purpose
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April 11, 2023

Condemnation to Build Slave Quarters

Gwinnett County, located in the North Central portion of Georgia and part of the metropolitan area of Atlanta, has backed down from the proposed condemnation of the “Promised Land” from a Black family. The Promised Land community was a plantation with about two dozen slaves prior to the Civil War. The land is owned by the descendants of freed slaves who once worked on a plantation on the same property. It was then owned by Thomas Maguire. “During the Civil War, Sherman’s troops burned this whole town, but he didn’t… read more

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Posted in Black Ownership, Condemnation, Historical Park
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