Winchester council authorizes eminent-domain option to secure access to water treatment plant

Winchester City Council voted to give city staff authority to pursue eminent domain to obtain access easements needed to reach the city's water treatment plant and a sill dam on the North Fork of the Shenandoah River, citing prolonged failed negotiations with adjacent property owners.

City Attorney Melissa Michaelson told the council the city already holds perpetual easements for the water facilities themselves but lacks access across four parcels that block a practical route to the site. She said staff first sought perpetual easements, then downgraded to temporary easements during negotiations, and now asks the council to authorize condemnation "if necessary" so the city can secure access and complete urgent improvements. "We're asking, that if need be, that we could get authority to proceed with eminent domain to for access easements to, get to the river and to the city's dam facilities for the necessary improvements," Michaelson said.

Michaelson described three parcels appraised at $4,000 each and one at $500; she said two owners have asked for roughly five times those figures and that staff has been unable to reach agreement after several years of talks. She told council appraisals would be updated if the city pursued perpetual easements through condemnation.

Council members pressed staff on alternatives, timing and impacts. A council member summarized the risk if work at the dam is delayed: "Worst case scenario... the existing wall on the side of the river could wash away... the city would not be able to take any water. So we would be completely without water, if the worst case scenario would happen," said a speaker during the deliberation.

City staff estimated construction could take up to a year, depending on river conditions. Council acknowledged eminent domain is a last resort but approved the resolution to allow staff to move forward if negotiations do not succeed.

The resolution gives staff authority to begin condemnation proceedings for access easements if needed; specifics about which parcels would be condemned and final compensation amounts will be set through the eminent-domain process and further council action if required. The council recessed into an executive session later in the evening to discuss acquisition and legal strategy and then reconvened.