Supervisors push forward on Road 108 project

Claiming that their decision is in the best interest of the general public, county supervisors decided to use their powers of eminent domain Tuesday to move forward with purchase of more than a half a acre of land on the northwest corner of Avenue 248 and Road 108 in Tulare, against the owner’s wishes.

To the disappointment of disgruntled diary operators and landowners, the county acted last year to acquire 21 parcels for similar road projects in the same manner.

On Tuesday, the Tulare County Board of Supervisors was scheduled to vote on four requests from the Resource Management Agency to use eminent domain on four parcels after failing to negotiate purchase prices with the landowners, inhibiting the county from moving forward with widening Road 108 from two lanes to four and creating a center median to increase traffic flow and safety.

They voted to acquire a 42 by 960 feet piece of William C. Hahesy’s land unanimously, continued two of the decisions to next week and the third was settled with landowners before the meeting started.

“Even though we are pursuing resolutions of necessity ... staff still wants to meet with property owners to negotiate purchase prices before ending up in court,” Britt Fussel, an assistant director with RMA said.

The Road 108 project is being funded with a combination of Measure R, California Proposition 1B Transportation Bond Program and potential American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars, but in order to receive some of the allocation the county needs, the county must be prepared to break ground.

The endeavour is expected to relieve traffic volumes that are projected to double along the corridor by 2030, and with the addition of a dividing center median, reduce traffic accidents, although only one has occurred on the section of the road.

“I’m glad we’re not waiting for a certain number of people to die to do something like this ... to not wait until traffic deaths are up,” Third District Supervisor Phil Cox said.

Fussell said that RMA planning staff was able to avoid impacting a few dairies and a power plant along the five mile stretch from Cartmill Avenue in Tulare to Caldwell Avenue in Visalia. Acquiring the right of ways, temporary construction easements and some easements for some water lines of several residential properties, however, could not be avoided, he said.

Eminent domain becomes an option when the government attempts to negotiate the purchase of the property — at a price not less than the county’s appraised value — but the owner does not want to sell their land, or does not find the offered price sufficient. At that point, a public hearing is scheduled, wherein government must demonstrate that it engaged in good faith negotiations to purchase the property and that taking the property is for public use.

The property owner is also given the opportunity to respond to the government’s claims.

Two of Tuesday’s public hearings were postponed because the landowners said the county’s offers were insufficient, and county staff needed more time to respond.

Glenn Stanton, representing the Bill and Tanya Miller Family Limited Partnership, said that the county had not offered any compensation for having to relocate a Tulare Irrigation District pipeline further onto their property that would be troublesome to the property owners when they build a series of four plexes, he said.

‘The Millers do not have an objection to the right of way or temporary construction easement,” Stanton said. But the county’s “offer is insufficient because there is no dollars offered for the [Tulare Irrigation District] easement ... which is incomprehensible.”

Supervisors met in closed session before opting to postpone their decisions. They also met in closed sessions before making a decision about whether to seize a 69 by 144 strip of land owned by Strawberry Stand Corner, LLC  on the northeast corner of Cartmill Avenue and Road 108.

Contact Jenna Chandler at 784-5000, Ext. 1050, or jchandler@portervillerecorder.com.