LINDELL KAY - DAILY NEWS STAFF
Backfiring eminent domain plans have
cost ONWASA $7.5 million in a recent land dispute settlement, according to
court records.
Prior property owners who lost their
land in condemnation actions by the Onslow Water and Sewer Authority were
seeking up to $40 million for potential mineral mining profits they say they
were cheated out of three years ago.
The settlement was recently agreed to
in order to “avoid the possibility of a potentially devastating amount being
set by the jury,” said Teresa Zavala, a spokeswoman for the Onslow Water and
Sewer Authority.
ONWASA had plans at the time to build
the NorthWest Regional Water Reclamation Facility
just south of Richlands. Seeking an area to use for
treated wastewater disposal, ONWASA condemned about 200 acres of land along Gum Brand Road
belonging to Sue Boggs, Hubert Rogers and members of their families, according
to court documents.
The former land owners, represented by Raleigh lawyer George B.
Autry, declined to comment.
Prior to the settlement, ONWASA tried
unsuccessfully to dismiss its eminent domain lawsuit and abandon the portion of
the property with mineral deposits. The authority demanded a return of the
money it had given land owners during the 2008 condemnation.
Autry pointed out in a motion to block
the dismissal that state eminent domain laws, upheld by the Supreme Court, do
not allow condemnation actions to be dismissed by a plaintiff once property
titles have changed hands. In other words, the government cannot force a
previous land owner to take repossession of property taken through eminent
domain procedures.
The former owners were paid market
value for the property — around $1 million — in April 2008. In 2010, they filed
an answer to the condemnation lawsuit claiming that limestone beneath their
former parcels could have been mined for profit.
ONWASA's geological experts appraised the value of the limestone deposits at $6
million, and the $7.5 million settlement was worked out earlier this month.
ONWASA said the eminent domain action
was necessary in mid-2008 because the N.C. Department of Environment and
Natural Resources issued a special order of consent that mandated that the
authority build a new wastewater treatment facility.
The wastewater plant — pushed publicly
by then-Richlands mayor and chairman of the ONWASA
board of directors Marvin Trott, who died in January
— has not been built.
Initial bids for the facility came in
way over budget and now the project is being re-designed, Zavala said, adding
that the facility is scheduled to be operational by the end of 2014.
ONWASA board members are doubtful the
facility will ever be built, according to a high-ranking ONWASA official
speaking on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak
publicly about the situation.
Contact Daily News Senior Reporter Lindell Kay at 910-219-8456 or lkay@freedomenc.com. Read his crime blog, "Off the
Cuff," at http://onslowcrime.encblogs.com.
http://www.jdnews.com/articles/land-97764-onwasa-million.html