Farmer fights city’s use of eminent domain
“The city of Laurinburg aims to bolster its water system by using eminent domain to acquire three wells on a Scotland County farm, but the farmer, a Pembroke resident, is contesting what the city considers fair price for his land is far less than the revenue he could earn by using the water that lies below the soil.
Brian Maynor, a partner of the 275-acre Shoeheel Farms located along Wagram and Log Cabin Roads, and longtime municipal government attorney Garris Neil Yarborough say that the $4,000 the city has offered for each of three parcels of land, which together total less than an acre, is not sufficient.
Maynor has told The Laurinburg Exchange that an irrigation system could provide him with an additional $200,000 of revenue a year.
While it could be a year or more before the case is heard in civil court, a Feb. 24 request for an injunction, filed by Yarborough in an effort to prevent the city from proceeding with the condemnation and subsequent use of Maynor’s property, was denied by Scotland County Superior Court Judge Richard T. Brown — allowing the city to continue its pursuit of the groundwater beneath Shoeheel Farms while the two parties battle over Maynor’s due compensation.”
Overfelt, Abbi. Laurinburge Exchange 21 March 2014.