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Supervisors approve condemnation resolution to secure right-of-way for 16th Avenue box culvert replacement
Summary
Benton County officials voted to move ahead with Resolution 26-69 to acquire about 0.22 acres of permanent right-of-way and 0.11 acres of temporary easement for a box culvert replacement on 16th Avenue after negotiations with the property owner stalled; the motion passed with three votes in favor and one abstention.
Speaker 5, the county's secondary-roads representative, told the board the county had tried to buy the needed land voluntarily but had reached an impasse with the property owner and recommended condemnation to keep the bridge-replacement project on schedule. "It was still in the best interest of Benton County to proceed with box culvert design at that location," the agency official said.
The project covers a permanent parcel of roughly 0.2201 acres and a temporary easement of about 0.1101 acres. Speaker 5 described past market comparisons used by the county's land-acquisition contractor—"based on some prior sales that $13,000 per acre was about the selling price"—and said the property-owner purchase-price implied per-acre figures near $14,350 to $15,400. The county offered $1,545 for the parcel (after a floodplain 50% reduction), but the owner did not provide a counteroffer.
Chair (speaker 3) moved that the board "move forward with this condemnation proceedings on this project." After discussion about process and whether to note an abstention on the printed resolution, the board approved Resolution 26-69 to acquire or condemn the described property. The chair announced the outcome as passing with three affirmative votes and one abstention; the board did not record a separate dissenting majority. The resolution number read into the record was 26-69.
Board members pressed staff on timing: speaker 5 said the county must have the condemnation proceeding set by Sept. 15 to meet the December DOT letting date but noted the hearing itself need not be held by that date. The agency official also described tradeoffs between a wider (30-foot) bridge replacement and the more cost-effective box culvert option, and noted the county's bridge replacement funds cap at roughly the upper $300,000s per year and may be carried for up to three years before risk of losing the allocation.
The board directed staff to prepare the necessary condemnation paperwork and noted the compensation board will set final per-acre compensation if condemnation proceeds.
