Board approves eminent domain move for high-speed rail project
“Last month, a Sacramento County judge invalidated the state’s funding plan and said it must have 300 miles of environmental clearances in place to meet the terms of Proposition 1A, the bond measure voters approved to sell nearly $10 billion in bonds for high-speed rail.
“I question the necessity to even take this parcel when the rail authority may not even be able to pay for it,” Olivera said.
Grebe said the authority has closed escrow on five of the 380 parcels needed to complete the first nearly 30-mile stretch from Madera to Fresno.
“Overall we have people that have been signing agreements. I think it’s been going quite positively, slowly,” he said. Still, he estimated that as many as 20 percent of the properties could end up going through the eminent domain process.
Olivera, the rail opponent, said the prospect of eminent domain has cast a pall over many residents and business owners in the train’s proposed path.
“Everybody is scared of the state of California coming to your house and saying we’re going to take this, we’re going to take your parking lot or your business, and they don’t know what to do,” he said.
Grebe said if the project were scrapped at some point and the property was no longer needed, state law gives the original owner the first option to buy it back.”
The Associated Press. SF Examiner 15 December 2013.