Eminent domain process leaves Hobart man feeling shortchanged State Department of Transportation says it must be wise with tax money
“Shrovnal, who turns 82 next month, has had property at that intersection for more than a half-century but now must give up part of it for road improvements the DOT is making in the area.
“This is like 1939 Hitler’s Germany,” Shrovnal said. “You have no control. They take what they want, they give what they want to give … What they’re giving me, I can’t even buy anything compared to what I had.”
The DOT, for its part, doesn’t want to harm individual property owners but is acting out Mr. Spock’s philosophy on Star Trek: “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”
The plan for Shrovnal’s corner is for a diamond interchange that would allow County FF traffic to cross over the top of Wisconsin 29 instead of having to find a gap among the more than 27,000 cars and trucks that pass that way daily. The plan also calls for four roundabouts along FF, two on each side of 29. Bids for construction are going out in May, and the project should be done by fall of 2014.
“We’re preserving right-of-way for future access,” said Dan Segerstrom, project development supervisor for the DOT. “We’ve done a study for the whole corridor…We try to pin it down for expected development so communities can plan.”
Without that ability, the DOT would be practically powerless to plan or to act on a plan without the landscape changing radically before they could take a step or get funding, Segerstrom said.
The DOT spent about $3.2 million to acquire 315 parcels for the project at 29 and FF. That’s not just for land purchase. It includes money given to land owners for relocation expenses, compensation for lost value on remaining land and other issues.
Included in that purchase is about five acres of Shrovnal’s land, for which he’s getting $500,000, but he says it’s worth twice that.”
Srubas, Paul. 17 March 2013.