Botetourt couple to get $3.1 million for condemned Exit 150 property
“The owners of vacant land at the heart of the Exit 150 highway improvement project should be compensated $3.1 million for the state’s taking of their property, a jury decided Thursday.
With its verdict, the jury determined that a new road being built by the Virginia Department of Transportation through Bland and Betty Painter’s property will hinder the couple’s plans for high-end commercial development on the site.
“Over the years we had multiple plans, most of which evaporated due to the threat of condemnation” by the state, Bland Painter told the jury during a four-day trial in Botetourt County Circuit Court.
Under the laws of eminent domain — applied by VDOT to take 7 of the Painter’s 29 acres to build a connector road to ease congestion at the busy Interstate 81 interchange — the transportation agency was required to pay just compensation.
VDOT relied on an appraisal that set that sum at $867,608. The Painters refused the state’s offer, saying they were entitled to as much as $3.8 million. That set the stage for a special jury of five property owners to determine a fair price.
At issue was the impact of Gateway Crossing, a nearly half-mile road set to open later this year that will connect U.S. 11 and Alternate U.S. 220.”
Roanoke Times. 22 September 2016.