Utilities gets second eminent domain request
“For the second time in a month, the Lebanon City Council granted Lebanon Utilities the power to exercise eminent domain over a portion of property located at 1802 Dead End Road at Monday’s council meeting.
The project in the works is the construction of a new lift station to serve the residents of the Prairie Creek subdivision. At a council meeting on Aug. 25, LU General Manager Jay McCoskey said the area is in need of an upgrade. The two 45-year-old canister-type lift stations cannot function under water and are nearing the end of their useful life. To fix the problem, a new force main will be constructed to take water back into town. A new 12-inch gravity line will be put in to connect the lift station behind KFC to a new lift station, to be built near the intersection of I-65 and the Farm Heritage Trail.
The council granted the utility permission to exercise eminent domain on a 30-foot-wide strip of land on two parcels of land, located at 1420 and 1470 W. Ind. 32, after the property owner did not respond to an offer to purchase the land. City Attorney Bob Clutter said the land in question is farmland, and once the line is installed, it can be farmed again.”
Lang, Sarah. Lebanon Reporter 25 September 2014.