SLO City is employing an old-school, temporary land-grab to keep the Los Osos Valley Road widening project flowing
“he city of San Luis Obispo is dusting off an old tool rarely used these days: eminent domain.
But the issue may not be as contentious as one might expect—yet, anyway. For one thing, such a large step was hardly even debated by an often-divided City Council. And another, the new property owner hadn’t contested the move as of the meeting when the action took place, though the owner was noticed.
The temporary acquisition will complete a necessary step of the long-awaited Los Osos Valley Road/Highway 101 interchange project.
On July 16, the SLO City Council unanimously approved a “Resolution of Necessity” to acquire a temporary construction easement through eminent domain and authorize $50,000 to be spent on outside legal counsel, as well as the continued engineering and appraisal services.
Also authorized was the expenditure of $15,500 to compensate the owner of the property, the ARCO AM-PM gas station and food mart at 12424 Los Osos Valley Road.”
Fountain, Matt. New Times San Louis Obispo 17 July 2013.