two landowners impacted by bypass construction got values far higher than dot originally offered after jury trial in civil proceedings.
jurors raised interprise construction's compensation from $167.700 to $420,000 and lamar lee's compensation from $880 to $87,200.
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How in the world can a quarter of an acre in Lamar County be worth over $87,000? That equates to nearly $350,000 an acre. Show me an unimproved property in Lamar County that has ever sold for anything close to that.
Were the people on the jury out to screw the government in order to help the little guy or were they just all idiots?
I was hoping $87K was a misprint. If not someone should investigate Lamar Lee.
The award was because he is losing use of over 60 acres. The DOT cut off his access and won't let him build a drive from the new by-pass. If you can't use the land then you lose its value. This was just to help compensate for the loss of use. Not for the 1/4 acre.
As I understand it, he has access off of Gordon Road. If he has access off a public road, why should the DOT pay him $87,000?
9:25 That's not what came out in court.
The DOT condemned .252 acres of my land and took title in October of 2005 for the sum of $880. My access to the remaining 53.08 acres will not be accessible after the bypass is built. It is true that I own 40 feet of frontage on Gordon Road at the south end of the property. However, in order to reach the part of the property that I actually use, two creeks must be crossed. During the negotiations with the DOT, I informed them of this problem and they told me to get an estimate to build a driveway, which I did. The estimate was for $29,800 and the state upped their offer to settle with me to $5000. I did not think it was fair that I would have to spend an additional $24,800 to get to property that I had been accessing for free since 1986. So the state condemned my property, paid me the amount of the original offer and began to build their road. During the last 18 months or so, I have discovered that in order for me to build a driveway and cross the two creeks, it is extremely likely that I must obtain a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers, and do wetlands mitigation. Initial estimates for this are between $10,000 and $15,000, before I can even start building a driveway that was estimated to cost over $29,000 two years ago. Also, my attorneys will receieve a large but well earned percentage of the awarded amount, plus expenses. No, I do not think that the jury was out to "screw the government", nor do I think that they are "all idiots". I think that the jury did a very good job of examining the facts of what was a quite complicated eminent domain case, and arrived at a decision that was fair to both the state of Georgia and to me. I would like to thank all the jurors for their service and for arriving at a verdict that was just. The shame of it is that the state will not negotiate fairly with affected land owners, compensate them adequately after being informed of all the facts, and avoid expensive litigation. I hope that this helps clarify the situation.
Thank you,
Lamar Lee
Congratulations Lamar and thanks for the clarification in this public forum. If I had been a juror, pain and suffering would have come into play too. Years of work and worry over this have no doubt been tough.
Lamar,
I was told that you sold part of your land to Walter's,their by losing the access to the property. If you had not have sold that piece of property, would any of this had happened?
My mother sold 9 acres to the Walters on the north side of the bypass which had no affect on any of my access. The problem is that the 5 foot fence and guardrail running through our property on the south side of the bypass prevents us from being able to utilize any of the south 60 acres without either crossing two creeks or purchasing some of Donald and Ronald Potts property. A little common sense on the part of the DOT would have gone a long way to resolve this cheaply and peacefully. I even offered to give them the .252 acres if they would allow me a driveway somewhere on the south side, but I guess that makes too much sense.
Lamar
As usual, bureaucrats, particularly the arrogant type that work for DOT are pennywise and pound foolish. Too bad the money they cost will not come out of their pockets.
I really hope that is the real property value because I own twenty acres and if that is the going price then I should sell and become one of the high society people that you see with their nose in the air. The only reason a lot of people's noses are in the air is because that's the only thing above water.
my heart feels for lamar, he owns 80 ft on gordon rd & he sold me 4 acres, which was his access to his 50 plus acres
you tell em' lamar!!! great job.
js
I'm just glad that P.J. missed when he threw the knife.
Me too, DT
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