Eminent domain: Resident calls city’s decision to take his property ‘unfair’
“The city of Marietta could be facing a legal challenge from a lifelong resident following its decision to take that resident’s property by eminent domain.
Ray Summerour, a retired Lockheed and City of Marietta firefighter, said the city was unfair in its negotiations and appraisal of his land, so he plans on challenging it in court.
The City Council voted 5-1, with Anthony Coleman opposed, to begin the process of taking Summerour’s property on Allgood Road, near North Marietta Parkway.
The land’s tenant is a convenience store called Allgood Market, which sells grocery items, Summerour said.
Summerour said he won’t have any way of earning money to provide for his family if he loses his land, because he’d no longer have the income he gets from Allgood Market through rent.
“They’re putting me out of business,” Summerour, 61, said about the city. “I will never ever be able to own another piece of property again in the city of Marietta in my lifetime.
…
”
Summerour, who has owned the property for more than 25 years, said the appraisal the city had done was unfair.
“The appraisal (the city) did provide was deeply flawed and potentially discriminatory,” said Harry Camp, Summerour’s attorney. “Mr. Summerour’s property is in a historically black neighborhood in Marietta — one of the few remaining — and it appears, to my knowledge, that the appraisal devalues the property because of the neighborhood that it’s in.””
Butschek, Hilary. MD Journal Online 23 June 2014.