More condemnations ahead for Valley’s high-speed rail route
“California may be picking up the pace on getting land it needs to build the state’s first stretch of high-speed rail in the Valley.
The state’s Public Works Board, meeting next week in Sacramento, will consider resolutions declaring a public need to use eminent domain, better known as condemnation, to acquire nearly 40 pieces of property in Fresno and Madera counties. All of the properties are along the path of the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s Construction Package 1, a 29-mile segment from the northeast edge of Madera to the southern fringe of Fresno.
Some parcels are vacant, but others are occupied by businesses that will have to relocate to make way for the rail route. They include several in the Highway City area near Shaw Avenue and Golden State Boulevard: Riverside Nursery and Landscaping, in business for more than 30 years; the La Quinta Inn & Suites that’s only about five years old; and a Derrel’s Mini Storage location. At the southern end of Fresno, tucked between Cedar Avenue and the BNSF Railway line, there’s FreshKO, a produce distribution company, and an Old Dominion Freight Lines center.”
Sheehan, Tim. The Fresno Bee 5 December 2014.