Council Approves Settlement Offer
Last updated Tuesday, January 13, 2009 9:30 PM CST in News
By John Henley Jr.
THE MORNING NEWS
ROGERS -- The City Council raised its settlement offer to Claude Noland to $1,033,844 on Tuesday.
"We just need to settle this and move on down the road," council member Betsy Reithemeyer said.
Rogers on Feb. 21, 2007, took 5.12 acres of Noland's land for the relocation of 26th Street.
Noland sued, arguing the land was worth more than what the city offered to pay him. The city's original appraisal for the land was $638,000, but that appraisal was not based upon the date the land was taken.
A new appraisal commissioned by the city states the 5.12 acres was worth $943,000 on the date it was taken. Both appraisals were done by Thomas G. Rife.
City Attorney Ben Lipscomb has said the issue in condemnation cases is how much the land was worth when it was taken, not what happened to the value before or after the taking.
Noland's attorney, John Everett, offered to settle the case in October for $1 million. The council countered that offer with an $850,000 offer, which Noland rejected.
Everett said last week he could not speak about a settlement until the council approves it and an offer is made to his client.
An attempt to contact Noland at his home Tuesday evening was unsuccessful.
Noland owns a 60-acre tract of land on West Laurel Avenue. The new road will leave about 29 acres on the northeast side and about 26 acres on the southwest side.
The trial is set for July 29-31, should the case go to trial, Jim Clark, Rogers deputy city attorney has said. That's when the court is scheduled to hear another eminent domain case involving Noland and Rogers.
That case involves land on South First Street taken by the city for street improvement. The city either took 4.2 acres or 3.7 acres. There is disagreement about how much land was taken and a third survey was commissioned, Clark has said.
AT A GLANCE
Rogers City Council
Council members, at their meeting Tuesday, approved:
• A contract with Rogers-Lowell Economic Development Corp.
• A contract with Main Street Rogers.
• A request by Car-Mart to rezone property at 2620 Hudson Road from highway commercial to light industrial.
• A contract with O.R. Colan Associates of Florida LLC for land acquisition and relocation assistance service pursuant to acquisition of aircraft hangar structures at the Rogers Municipal Airport.
• A contract with Delta Airport Consultant Inc. of Little Rock for construction phases services pursuit of parallel taxiway construction at Rogers Municipal Airport.
• A contract with Auto Power Ford of Whitesboro, Texas, for eight vehicles for the Rogers Police Department, all required equipment and waiving competitive bidding.
Source: Staff Report
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