State files suit, condemns mechanic shop on Highway 52
“On Tuesday Derek Sifford was working underneath an older model Buick Century, while a parking lot full of other cars waited on him.
He went about his business even though he is aware that at any moment the state of North Carolina could come in and shut off the water, turn off the lights, or change the locks on the doors.
Sifford is a mechanic, and until the last few weeks was the owner of Sifford’s Service on Highway 52 in Rockwell.
“As soon as those papers hit my hand, it is their legal tender ownership,” Sifford told WBTV. “There’s nothing I can do.”
The state now owns the property, having filed suit in court to condemn the property so that it may be used for safety improvements at the intersection of Highway 52 and Gold Knob Road.
It doesn’t have to end this way, Sifford says. If the state would only offer would he believes is fair market value for his property instead of the $214,000 offer now on the table.
“Whenever they decide to some down here and kill my water, there goes my water and my septic, “ Sifford said. “I don’t think it’s ethical, considering the amount of money people have been paid for property in this area for a commercial business.”
The state has already paid other property owners. A small retail store directly across from Sifford’s was bulldozed months ago.
Sifford says other property owners have been more fairly compensated for their land and says he can’t afford to take the state’s offer.
“Tax value currently today is $145,000, what they’ve offered me is roughly $70 grand over tax value,” Sifford told WBTV. “The people they’ve already paid, same business, death of a business, his tax value was $45,000, if you rounded it up, he ended up with $191,000. That’s why I won’t consider it.””
Whisenant, David. WBTV 10 March 2015.