The Jimmy Deloach Connector Project will include the construction of a road on new alignment beginning at Bourne Avenue and extend 3.1 miles north to the existing Jimmy Deloach Parkway located East of I-95 near the Port of Savannah’s Gate.  The project is primarily located in Port Wentworth, Chatham County, Georgia.  New interchanges will be constructed at both Grange Road and Jimmy Deloach Parkway.  The project is needed to provide faster truck movement into and out of the Savannah Port from SR 21 and provide an alternate route to accommodate increasing truck traffic entering and exiting the Savannah Port.

In December 2011, the Georgia Department of Transportation awarded a $73 million contract for its construction.  The Savannah Morning News said in a December article that “the Port authority and state transportation officials have said the new roadway is critical to improving port access and growing the state’s logistics industry”.

View the layout of the project below, which shows the affected properties and road alignment (the file is large and may take time to download):

Jimmy Deloach Parkway Connector Project Layout

Property acquisition is underway for this project, and The State of Georgia has the authority to use eminent domain if negotiations can not be reached.  If you are affected by this project, you should know that the government is required by law to pay you just compensation.  The calculation of just compensation often involves a wide range of issues which government appraisers typically do not consider such as the highest and best use of the property, damages to the remainder parcel, and/or special damages to the property such as restricted access, zoning, permitting, etc. as a result of the taking.

If you reject the government’s offer, it still has to pay you that money, and this does not jeopardize your right to get more money in the eminent domain hearing.  Oftentimes, a property owner will only receive just compensation by allowing condemnation to occur. In condemnation, an owner can show that the rules for highest and best use will produce a higher price than the amount offered by the government.

Learn more about Georgia eminent domain.

Suggested reading

The Importance of Selecting an Appraiser

3 Things to Consider when Speaking to the Authorities

Suggested videos:

Eminent domain strategy considerations

Eminent domain damages

Eminent domain severance damages

Contact us for more information on this project and your rights in the eminent domain process.

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In this upcoming blog series, we’ll be discussing partial takings in eminent domain cases.    A partial taking occurs when the condemning authority only acquires a portion of the property, not the entire parcel.  The portion of the property that is left is known as the remainder. The value of the land and any improvements to the land which are actually taken in an eminent domain proceeding are known as the direct damages, and the value of the remainder parcel is known as the severance damages.

When calculating just compensation in partial taking eminent domain cases, we previously discussed determining the value of the parcel before and subtracting from it the value of the remainder parcel, a valuation concept known as the “before and after rule”.  In determining the value of the before parcel, there is a term commonly referred to as the larger parcel, which as the name suggests, is the parcel of land owned by the property owner before the acquisition.

This larger parcel concept plays an important role in the calculation of just compensation in a partial taking eminent domain case.  Let’s say for example a condemning authority needs to acquire 5 acres of land from a property owner.  If the Larger parcel is 240 acres, the per acre before value will be significantly less than if the larger parcel were only 20 acres.  The determination of the larger parcel in the before situation is very critical because it will help establish the unitary value of the portion of land acquired in the before and after analysis.

Determining the larger parcel is not always obvious.  There are different analyses to use when identifying the larger parcel for the property owner.  Sometimes it will be more advantageous for the larger parcel to be bigger; in other situations, the larger parcel might be smaller.  It’s important for property owners affected by a partial taking eminent domain case to make sure the correct larger parcel is utilized for their particular case.

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Eminent Domain Process, Powers and History, Part 3: Appealing a Condemnation Decision

January 17, 2012

In the last several articles, we’ve discussed the history and power of eminent domain and the types of eminent domain takings.  To end this series, we’d like to address the several points of attack to challenging a condemnation decision.  Once a condemnation petition is filed, a property owner may challenge:

Authority to Condemn
Public Use
Just Compensation

Authority to [...]

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Progress made on the Harris Neck Land Trust movement

January 10, 2012

Last spring, our firm participated in a mock congressional hearing on the claims of the Harris Neck Land Trust at Emory Law School in Georgia.  The hearing was designed to assist the Harris Neck Land Trust effort to win congressional backing to recover the land now controlled by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.  If [...]

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Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules on Contamination Valuation in Eminent Domain Claims

January 6, 2012

The Wisconsin Supreme Court recently reviewed 260 North 12th Street, LLC v. Wisconsin DOT, 2010 WI App 138, 329 Wis. 2d 748, 792 N.W.2d 572 and took the majority state opinion that in condemnation proceedings, the government is allowed to introduce evidence of environmental contamination and future remediation costs to reduce the amount of just [...]

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Project Neon – Las Vegas, Nevada

December 19, 2011

Project Neon is a corridor program developed to re-design I-15 between the Spaghetti Bowl and Sahara Avenue in the heart of Las Vegas.  This $1.5 billion project will affect hundreds of homeowners and business owners along the project corridor.  The project extends 3.7 miles and includes more than 13 lane miles of new bridges, a [...]

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Willets Point: Judge Madden speaks out on ‘Bait and Switch’ tactic

December 13, 2011

Judge Madden’s interim ruling on Willets Point is already old news.  However, given our interest in NYC’s land grab projects, aka “redevelopment projects”, we wanted to at least touch on the topic and direct our readers to several great articles previously published on this matter.
First of all, we’re not shy about our stance on NYC [...]

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Eminent Domain Process, Powers and History, Part 2

December 7, 2011

In our last article, we discussed the definition of eminent domain, the right of eminent domain and its history.  Armed with the knowledge contained therein, we’ll continue our discussion by reviewing the types of eminent domain “takings”.
In addition to real property, all property rights and interests are subject to the power of eminent domain.  This [...]

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Eminent Domain Process, Powers and History, Part 1

November 30, 2011

When I think about eminent domain, the haunting image of a large hand sweeping down from the sky and scooping up my house comes to mind.  Resonating inside my head are cases such as Kelo vs. the City of New London, Goldstein et al. v. N.Y.  State Urban Development Corporation; my Fifth Amendment rights, ‘land [...]

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North Spokane Corridor Project

November 22, 2011

This project improves mobility by allowing motorists and freight to move north and south through metropolitan Spokane, from I-90 to US 395 at Wandermere. Once complete, the NSC will decrease travel time, fuel usage, and congestion, while improving safety by reducing collisions on local arterials.
When complete, the [...]

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