Biersdorf & Associates

By Gordon Fraser , Staff writer
Eagle-Tribune
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http://www.eagletribune.com/punewsnh/local_story_329104521?keyword=secondarystory+page=3 

The state is taking land along Interstate 93, and while some landowners feel they’re getting a fair deal, a few say they’ve been paid insultingly low prices for their property.

Since 1998, the state Department of Transportation has been buying up land along I-93 in advance of expanding the highway. Sixteen landowners who refused to sell had their land taken by eminent domain, a process by which the state takes property and pays the owner the assessed value.

But while many landowners have been more than willing to turn over their property, and have been pleased with the money they’ve gotten, others have spent months and years fighting the state for a better price.

In total, the state has taken 95 properties, 16 of them by eminent domain, according to Bill Janelle of DOT.

In many cases, the properties were little more than a sliver of land taken from a landowner’s parcel, Janelle said. In others, large tracts were bought for upward of $2 million.

Some landowners have been shocked by how low the state has valued their land - $25,000 for an acre in one case, $10,000 for 4 acres in another. But state officials argue land is valued by independent professionals, and unbuildable parcels just aren’t worth as much as buildable land.

The state is trying to widen I-93 - from two lanes in each direction to four - along a 20-mile stretch from Salem to Manchester. To make that happen, the transportation agency has to clear land in Londonderry, Derry, Salem and Windham for water runoff, sound barriers and miles of pavement.

And that has enraged a few landowners.

Salem farmers Mike and John Peters lost an acre of their cornfield by eminent domain earlier this year.

They were paid $25,000 for it. The farmers, who say an appraiser they hired valued the land at $195,000, were outraged.

“There’s no way to replace it. There’s no land,” said Mike Peters, 53, who has run the Peters Farm with his brother since 1984.

In that case, the Peters’ appraiser valued the land differently from the state’s appraiser. The Peters had their land assessed as income-generating, working land. The state valued it as land for a house lot and, since the 1 acre was oddly shaped and unbuildable, it wasn’t worth much.

The brothers are appealing the state’s payment to a land dispute court Nov. 27.

The Peters aren’t the only ones fighting the state over eminent domain cases. Of the 16 pending cases, none has been resolved, according to state records.

Still, many landowners don’t want to discuss their battles with the state.

Red Roof Inn, which lost a piece of its property in Salem, is fighting the state over the taking but won’t discuss it.

“It is their corporate policy not to discuss ongoing litigation,” said Jennifer Jordan, who works for a public relations firm representing Red Roof.

But many landowners talk of a completely different experience.

“On the whole, my experience with the state was not a bad experience at all,” said Dan Crafts, the owner of Cars Inc., a Salem auto repair shop.

Crafts was paid $575,000 for his 5,000 square feet of commercial space, which he owned in a building at 8 Raymond Ave.

“The state was very cooperative, and they were able to help in any way they could,” Crafts said.

Although Crafts’ land and building had to be cleared for a Park-and-Ride facility, the business owner said he was allowed to stay in his former business space until a new space could be built.

“It was a really a seamless transition for me,” he said.

But, with 282 properties left to purchase for the I-93 expansion, some think the state will have many more fights on its hands.

The state has already spent more than half the money it had planned to spend acquiring land, although Janelle thinks the remaining parcels should be much cheaper than the plots purchased so far. He thinks the state will stay within budget, or at least close.

“What’s left are many of the (small) strip acquisitions,” he said.

The purchases could stretch well into the future, in large part because land is only bought as it is needed for each phase of the expansion, Janelle said. While the project is slated for completion in 2015, it has been delayed by an environmental lawsuit and a verdict that the state had to conduct one final environmental study.

Meanwhile, one legislator thinks the state should take steps to protect landowners, especially because the state will be making hundreds of purchases over the coming years.

“The government’s going to come in and low-ball (landowners),” said Rep. Al Baldasaro, R-Londonderry. “It’s a shame how (transportation officials) do business.”

Baldasaro, who lost 4.5 acres of his own land to an eminent domain taking, thinks lawmakers should take a closer look at landowners who feel they have been wronged.

He lost part of his property because the state is building a new access road to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. But the lawmaker, who says he was paid $10,000 for the 4.5 acres, said he empathizes with those who have lost their land along I-93. He has already spent $12,000 in legal fees fighting the state, he said.

While Janelle, of the Department of Transportation, thinks future takings won’t be without conflict, he expects the vast majority of them will go off without a hitch - especially because the remaining parcels are often small slivers of land taken from a larger plot.

“Sometimes (owners’) property value doesn’t change when we acquire a sliver,” Janelle said.

Land takings by the numbers

Total parcels needed: 377

Taken by agreement so far: 79

Taken by eminent domain so far: 16

Remaining parcels needed: 282

Total expected cost: $76 million

Money spent so far: $42.4 million

Source: N.H. Department of Transportation

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