More condemnations ahead in Fresno, Valley for high-speed rail route

Almost 1,000 acres. That’s the acreage in the central San Joaquin Valley for which the State Public Works Board has authorized the use of eminent domain to acquire the property for California’s high-speed train project.

Eleven resolutions adopted last week by the three-member panel in Sacramento covered about 166 acres that were deemed necessary for construction of the rail line in Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties. It was determined that purchase negotiations have thus far proven fruitless between the California High-Speed Rail Authority and property owners.

The latest action brings to 282 the number of resolutions that the Public Works Board has adopted since December 2013, totaling more than 960 acres – either entire parcels or portions thereof – in Madera, Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties, home to the first stages of construction of the statewide project. The heads of the state’s General Services, Transportation and Finance departments comprise the Public Works Board, which oversees the acquisition of land for state projects.

Eminent domain, or condemnation, is a legal process in which a government agency files suit in Superior Court to acquire property for public projects. It’s typically a last resort when the agency and a property owner cannot agree on price or terms. A judge decides whether the agency is entitled to the property; in a second stage of the case, a jury determines the fair market value as well as other “just compensation” due the owner.

Thursday’s action in Sacramento included resolutions for three of the largest chunks of property targeted for possible condemnation so far by the state. Two of the three are in Kings County, where opposition to the rail project has been both longstanding and steadfast.

One is the Brazil property, located along Jackson Avenue and Highway 43 south of Hanford, and includes portions carved from four separate parcels, including part of the Dream Dairy. The land that the state wants to acquire adds up to just over 50 acres of the 344-acre farm for the rail right of way north and south of Jackson Avenue and east of Highway 43, as well as to build a new Jackson Avenue overpass over the train tracks.

About 3 miles to the south, on the west side of Highway 43, the state is seeking about 42 acres of the Joe Machado Dairy and farmland between Kansas and Lansing avenues. That acreage, out of four parcels amounting to nearly 436 acres, is desired for construction of the rail line as well as a Kansas Avenue grade separation.

In Tulare County, southwest of Allensworth, about 45 acres representing portions of five separate parcels of the Hancock property are sought for construction of the high-speed train line between Avenue 28 and Avenue 16.

Madera property settlement

In another area of the project, homeowners Sheryl and Robert Haflich report that they have reached a settlement with the high-speed rail agency over the purchase of their property at the northeastern fringe of Madera.

The Haflich home sits in the path of an overpass planned to carry traffic on Lake Street over the train tracks, leaving them in limbo and unable to sell the property. Because the property is about a mile north of the boundary of the first construction stage, the rail authority was restricted from using any of its federal grant money to buy it.

It wasn’t until last month that the rail agency was able to seek approval from the Public Works Board to begin efforts to buy the property using money from California’s greenhouse-gas reduction program.

The initial offer from the authority’s appraisers, however, was a bitter disappointment, Sheryl Haflich said – less than $200,000, not enough to pay off the mortgage on the home and the 1.3 acres of land at the corner of Lake Street and Tremaine Avenue. Haflich said the appraisal was based on comparable sales in far-flung areas rather than properties in the immediate vicinity.

Haflich countered with a proposal based on comparables from within the same Madera Acres neighborhood. After repeated back and forth, she said the authority finally came back earlier this month with an offer that she and her husband reluctantly accepted: $350,000, enough to pay off their current property and give them a head start on relocating to a new home closer to Robert Haflich’s work at a school in Turlock.

“It’s not everything we wanted, but Bobby and I looked at each other and decided to accept it,” Sheryl Haflich said.

Their situation is still not without issues, though. The state’s insistence on a 90-day escrow before the deal could close late this year cost the Haflichs their opportunity to buy a home they were pursuing, “so now we’re back at square one” to find a new place, Sheryl Haflich said.

This story was originally published September 22, 2015 at 12:57 PM with the headline "More condemnations ahead in Fresno, Valley for high-speed rail route."