Eminant Domain

Mike sorry for the situation you have been placed into.But there are issues here on this site as well as all over our USA where citizens will not stand up and fight when they have been done an injustice. It is a common occurrence every day.Lets not make a stand or voice our opinion , even tho we know it is the correct thing to do. We may hurt someones feeling or say something that is politically incorrect.
But when that same MONSTER comes and camps out on your doorstep , lets circle the wagons and fight for our rights.
Too little too late, thank GOD I live in the South .No freeways,redlights or infastructure to speak of here.We have two stop signs, and Barney Fife that lives down the street.
Home invasion, yea,Break into a REDNECKS house here...They will shoot you in the yard and drag the body inside, end of investigation......
This country had better wake up, any goverment that can GIVE YOU EVERYTHING can Damn sure take it away, and we are losing those rights everyday........
The best of luck with your situation,and arm yourself well......If the ACLU wont help maybe Mr. Winchester will............boat dr

Sorry to hear you're being affected by that Mike. From what I've seen, they're just like the DOT and do whatever they want. Hopefully you'll have enough people show up and they'll be enough bad press that maybe they can be influenced to do something different.

Find a good attorney and a good appraiser. We do work for both the state and individuals in ED situations. The state of Texas goes way out of their way to pay fair prices for taken property and is usually above emarket value. You cant stop them but you can get the right value for your property.

I thought ED was handled with a blue pill. BKH

That's absolutely crazy, Mike. What is the matter with these people? Are any of the decision makers on the M.T.A. losing their homes??? Sort of like political figures supporting sending troops overseas for the war, but are they urging their kids to go? What's happing to our country?

Another thing that grinds my gears is real estate. There's so many negative messages being broadcasted about our economy. It's actually the best time to buy a home. Low cost of houses, great interest rates. Why doesn't the media braodcast this? Instead they make you want to stay home and not spend a dime. Frustrating!!!!!

Ken

    Thanks guys for the input and well wishes. We had a "public input" meeting Thursday night at 6pm.It was a real eye opener.They had a Q&A session after their presentation,only problem was....they didn't have any answers.During the presentation,If you asked them a question they didn't want to answer,they would literally turn their back and walk away.These guys have CLEARLY only included info in their proposal that supports their case and they deliberately kept this out of the public's eye for 2 years to avoid resistance. They claim they are in the "conceptual stage" blah blah blah,it early in the process....blah blah blah....but then told us within 6 weeks they will be applying for the permits to start construction.They have a proposed budget 'soup to nuts' for the project,but could not tell us how much they have set aside for land purchases,bringing in utilities,etc.At one of the proposed locations they want to tap into the local streets water main for the water supply....only problem is there is no public water for miles in that area.They didn't even know that.That is only one of hundreds of things they haven't taken into consideration.They only have about 1/10 of the facts on the area,most of which are inaccurate.They actually have lots affected on their map that they think are vacant.....they didn't even know there was houses there! There was 16 locations between York and Wells that they reviewed,and they ruled out the other 12 locations and will (still) not tell us why."They don't fit the criteria",But they fit it enough to be considered in the first place?

     There are many lawyers involved,many political figures involved,and thousands of citizens now involved so we are fighting it as best we can.As for the comments about having an attorney to ensure you get fair money for your house,reread the first post in this thread......these homes ARE NOT FOR SALE.

      When the MTA widened the turnpike a few years back,they bought land from these people for 'Market value'= How's $200 per acre sound.At that time land in York was selling for about $40k an acre.It's not a 2 sided negotiation,if you refuse to sell at what they'll pay,they just take it for $1.00. They also made it a point to tell us they completed that widening project 2 million under budget,but when asked why their new 6 million dollar headquarters is 7 million over budget,they had no comment.That's right...a 13 million dollar building for the MTA to conduct business---your toll revenues at work while our road infrastructure is crumbling.

     Boat Dr. made a good point about not fighting till it's too late or directly affects you,but the problem is actually lack of knowledge available to the public.People don't fight because they don't know.We are working on making everyone aware that this is going on.
     
     There is also NO provision for compensation for lost property value.The MTA's comment was "Well,we may not need to purchase your house/or land,but the project may come close enough to your backyard to affect the quality of living to the point that you may no longer want to live there,and if that close proximity to the construction devalues your house by 50 % there's no compensation to you for that.I guess you should have taken that into account when you bought a house near the turnpike"    
What ? Alot of these houses were there before the turnpike was even built!

   For those of you who travel up I 95 and can't fathom the footprint of this,the Hampton Toll booth in all it's monstrosity is only 16 lanes wide.Add 6 lanes to that and then remember when you come to Maine to vacation,the first thing you'll see coming,and the last thing you'll see leaving will be this tollbooth that displaced lifelong residents of this great town all so you can fly through at highway speed just to travel another 2 miles to the Piscatiqua River Bridge and get stuck in traffic backed all the way up into Maine from Hampton anyway.   WTF?

     Mike

    

Mike -- Sorry this is happening to you. I've been on both the receiving end as a property owner, and on the giving end as an elected official of a local government with condemnation powers.

With all due respect, it sounds like you're wasting your time talking to officials of the MTA. The deal is going to happen with that many vested interests who will make money off of the project: lawyers, engineers, construction people, suppliers, financial advisors, etc.

An entity like the MTA does have the power to condemn property for projects in the public interest. Again, I advise you to seek the best legal counsel available and get as much money for your property and your damages as you can.

They can take your property at a low price, but you do have legal recourse and the ability to get more money if your case is sound and handled correctly.

When I was on the receiving end of a condemnation a few years ago, a local government offered me $14K an acre, which I turned down. They then took the property, and the local commissioners "found" the value to be $11K an acre. I sued and ended up four years later settling with them for $36K an acre in cash plus some valuable rights worth 3 or 4 times the cash portion of the settlement.

They didn't want to risk a trial because they knew they were going to end up paying much more than the taking price - and it would have been a public embarassment to them and potentially could have affected their re-relection chances.

But you must have a good case and comptetent counsel in order to be to be successful.

Good luck. -- Bert

You could always plant some arrow heads a claim an ancient burial ground is there. That should keep them tied up for a few years for the idiots to do an archealogical study.

thats not a bad idea, go get a skull, i sure the f- would, mike you dont know me i would do that if i knew where to get a skull and a dash of native american artifacts. that would stop the project dead in its tracks

even at the meetings, bring up the burial sites, that is an issue that stops progress dead in its tracks, let them tell you where all the burial sites are and use yourself and others concerned to really push the burial sites...its a good angle. wish the best for you guy's out here...