ELR Citation: ELR 20436
No(s). 01-5030 (Fed. Cir. Jan 16, 2002)

The court affirms a U.S. Court of Federal Claims award of $1,153,578 to a Virginia county as compensation for 16.05 acres of land that the government took by eminent domain for use at the Manassas National Battlefield Park. A developer conveyed the 16.05 acres at issue to the county for use as a road in a proposed development. When the developer proposed a larger development, a citizen coalition persuaded the U.S. Congress to pass legislation taking the developer's land and the 16.05 acres of county land by eminent domain. After several attempts to valuate the 16.05 acres, the Court of Federal Claims adopted a neutral appraiser's valuation of $1,153,578 based on the highest and best use of the property, which the appraiser determined would be assemblage with adjoining properties. The federal government appealed. The court first holds that there is sufficient evidence in the record to support the Court of Federal Claims decision. There was reasonable probability that at the time of the taking, the 16.05 acres were physically and legally adaptable for assemblage with adjoining properties and that there was a demand for assemblage at the time of the taking. Although the county may not have intended to sell the land or use it for any other purpose than a road, the proper inquiry for determining the value of the land is not the intended use, but the highest and most profitable use that was physically adaptable and reasonably in demand. The court next holds that a state statute that only allows a road to be abandoned if reasonable alternate routes are available does not render the sale of the 16.05 acres not reasonably probable due to the financial feasibility of moving the proposed road to a new location. The statute applies to already constructed roads in the state secondary system of highways, not to partially constructed street improvements such as the 16.05 acres at issue. The court also holds that the Court of Federal Claims did not err by failing to consider whether contractual restrictions would have prevented the county from selling the 16.05 acres.

The full text of this decision is available from ELR (13pp., ELR Order No. L-424).

Counsel for Plaintiff
Gifford R. Hampshire
County Attorney's Office
One County Complex Ct., Prince William VA 22192
(703) 792-6620

Counsel for Defendant
Robert H. Oakley
Environment and Natural Resources Division
U.S. Department of Justice, Washington DC 20530
(202) 514-2000