Town and Lockhart Construction at odds over Criser Rd. bridge easement

The Town of Front Royal is seeking an eminent domain condemnation of a 1,700-plus square foot swath at the edge of Lockhart Construction property at the intersection of Criser and Remount Roads.  The hostile temporary construction easement is being sought to facilitate construction of a new Criser Road bridge over Happy Creek.  A motion to move toward a public hearing on the eminent domain seizure passed by a 5-0 vote of the Front Royal Town Council on July 10.

The justification for the eminent domain seizure of the property, albeit a temporary one according to the resolution of authorization approved, is that a new Criser Road bridge providing a southside of town east-west access across Happy Creek is in the general public interest.

In the agenda packet town staff traced the history of negotiations between local builder Stephen C. “Stevie” Lockhart and the town government – and it’s not a pretty picture of a negotiation “gone south”.

Looking southwest toward Happy Creek and the existing bridge where the 1,710 s.f. bulk of the easement is being sought. Photos/Roger Bianchini

There are two triangular sections, the larger 1,710 square-foot one widening from east to west toward Happy Creek; the much smaller and already paved section resting at the intersection of Criser and Remount Road to the east at the entrance to the Lockhart property.

The smaller parcel of several hundred s.f. triangulates from the paved entrance to the Lockhart property toward Remount Road.

According to the staff summary, the Town initially made an offer of $10,000 for a temporary construction easement on both parcels totaling about 2,000 square feet; and later an offer of $25,000 for an outright purchase.  Staff explained the purchase offer as advantageous to both parties to facilitate ongoing maintenance or repairs of the new bridge from possible future flood damage.  The purchase price was based on dueling “comparables” obtained by the Town and Lockhart.

Paragraph four of the resolution to authorize the condemnation proceedings adds further detail.  It says an initial purchase offer of $6,000 was made by the Town based on its comparables on recently sold properties.  Lockhart came up with his own comparables, and based on those the Town made a second offer of $25,000 for a purchase.

However, the staff report states that Lockhart rejected the idea of any temporary easement and said he would sell the property to the Town for $100,000.  Of that price the staff summary states it is “a sum of money which, if paid by the Town, would be a gross waste of taxpayer money.”

Attempts to reach Lockhart for comment by phone prior to publication were unsuccessful.

Might as well sneak a little free advertising in there – especially with attorney’s fees possibly looming on the horizon.

And so Mr. Lockhart and the town government find themselves at the point of a hostile eminent domain condemnation, not for purchase, but rather the initially-sought temporary construction easement which the Town says Lockhart rejected out of hand.

According to the Town’s legal department if the eminent domain condemnation is upheld as necessary to the public need, the court, likely a jury, would place a value on that temporary construction easement to be awarded to Lockhart.