Priority parking? Property owners have mixed feelings about eminent domain
Posted on Sunday, October 12, 2008
ANTHONY REYES Northwest Arkansas Times Rich King co-owns property in an area the Washington County Quorum Court is considering tearing down along with other homes to make way for extra parking as county government expands. The Quorum Court has not yet voted on the matter but is looking into it as an option.
Rich King stands on the upstairs balcony of the house he and Sharman Sturchio finished four years ago.
He then gives a quick tour, showing some of the recyclable materials - such as salvaged stained-glass windows and slate from an old pool table - used inside.
Sturchio and King are against Washington County Judge Jerry Hunton's plan to tear down the houses on their property to make way for parking spaces.
"We've built this house from scratch ourselves," King said. "It's where we live."
The land on which the home sits includes the Campbell Bell home, which has been turned into a four-plex, and a guest house. The four-plex and guest house are leased to tenants.
King said he and Sturchio have owned the property for a number of years and began remodeling 10 years ago.
"We plan, basically, on retiring in this house," King said.
"This is the last move."
They and other property owners in the area could be subject to eminent domain if the Washington County Quorum Court agrees with Hunton.
Hunton announced during the Quorum Court meeting Thursday night that he is thinking about exercising eminent domain, which is the power of government to take private property for a public use, even if the property owner objects. Private property owners under the U. S. Constitution have a right to receive just compensation.
The six properties targeted are at College Avenue and Spring Street near First Christian Church in Fayetteville. Each of the six properties has at least one house on it that would have to be razed.
One of the properties belongs to Fourth Circuit Judge Mary Ann Gunn, who presides over court at the Historic Washington County Courthouse. She calls the property in question "the red brick building," not a house, as some refer to it. It is the home of the Public Defender's Office, but that office staff is moving across the street into the Terminella Building by the first of next year.
"It is what it is," Gunn said Friday when asked about Hunton's eminent domain proposal.
"If the county needs it for parking, then I think that it's within their power to take the building and bulldoze it down and do whatever they need to do with it.
"I won't stand in their way. I've really enjoyed the building and it has a lot of historical value to me."
Gunn says she bought the red brick structure and leased it the county for a time before she had it gutted and remodeled for the first all-female law firm in Northwest Arkansas, which was Gunn, Sexton, Canova and Platt. She has leased it to the Public Defender's Office, she said, for the past seven years.
She said the building probably dates to the early 1920 s and she bought it sometime around 1990.
The Juvenile Detention Center was in the building at the time she purchased it.
"It's just charming," she said of the structure.
But, she said," We're all painfully aware of the problems with parking that the county has faced and will have in the future. I'll work with and cooperate with the county throughout the course of their project if I need to."
Sturchio says he is not against parking in downtown.
But, he said," I think there are creative solutions that can be found without throwing people out of their homes. I love living downtown. I buy into the whole Fayetteville urban concept."
Hunton said he plans to take a "straw vote"of Quor um Cour t members to determine if they favor the proposal to condemn the properties.
The Quorum Court must appropriate money to pay the property owners, he said. That amount is unknown at this time; Hunton said he would have an appraisal of the property done if the Quorum Court agrees to the eminent domain.
Attorney Charles Stutte, who owns the property on the corner of Spring Street and College Avenue for his law practice, says he is "not really on board with the plan."
"I'm just happy as a clam with this office on the corner of Spring and College," he said. "This house has been here forever."
He says his best guess is that it dates to 1906 because of newspapers he noticed that had been used for insulation when the walls were torn out to renovate.
Having the house razed to address the parking situation "that apparently is imminent," he said," I think is unreasonable."
He says he believes there are a lot of other options county officials could pursue for parking and not take his property.
"I just don't know why this corner piece of property is necessary for the county," he said. "I just don't think it's a case of eminent domain."
Hunton says it is not something he wants to do but he believes he needs to think of the county and make sure, if the properties are purchased, the taxpayers do not pay more than they are worth.
Stutte says he has always cooperated with the county with whatever it has been they have wanted.
"None of that has bothered me," he said, but, he added, he does not think this is necessary.
"I'm not taking any position here about trying to hold out for money," he said.
"I really don't want to sell at any price. I like practicing law out of this little house on the corner."
He has been in the office since 1991.
Other properties that could be taken if the plan moves forward are: Paul Gayner Proper ties; RBS Investments (Ron Sherwood ), which owns two of the parcels, and Sharman Sturchio's property. Hunton says Sturchio is adamantly opposed to the idea.
Hunton said he had hired George Faucette, a real estate agent, to contact the property owners.
Based on that, Hunton said, he decided to talk about eminent domain.
Sturchio says he is not opposed to eminent domain when new highways or sewer lines have to be built," but I don't think tearing people's homes down to buy a parking lot is an appropriate use of eminent domain.
"I like Judge Hunton. I think he's a great guy. I just happen to disagree with him on this," he said, adding that he has no problem with people who "willingly sell"their property to the county.
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