Supervisors ponder eminent domain while considering waste site

By Erin McGrath

Published: August 20, 2008

Nelson County supervisors are considering condemnation and eminent domain as they wrestle with where to find a spot for a new waste facility.

One site they have identified is on Bunny Hill Lane off Virginia 6 in Faber. The owner doesn’t want to sell the six-acre parcel to the county because she doesn’t want such a facility on the property.

“She’s sticking to her guns,” said her Realtor, James Wood of Montague, Miller and Co., who represented the owner, Hazel T. Bell of Midlothian, at the supervisors’ Aug. 12 meeting.

Supervisors are still scouting for sites in the Faber and Schuyler area of the county to place a solid waste collection site since efforts to purchase land at the end of July were stalled.

At their July 24 meeting, supervisors authorized county staff to make an offer to buy Bell’s land.

Supervisors were considering the parcel for a solid waste collection site in the Faber and Schuyler areas. Bell has had the land for sale for more than two months for $125,000.

Another parcel in the Virginia 6 area was brought to the table as well, supervisors said.

Supervisors met earlier this month with representatives from the Cove Valley Recreational Center to discuss acquiring property from them along Cove Creek Lane.

“It’s not an ideal site, but the site can work,” Harvey said of the Cove Creek Lane site. “We’re going to have opposition wherever we go.”

Supervisors appointed board members Thomas Harvey and Allen Hale to continue working with landowners in the area to find a site suitable for the county’s needs.

Hale said he has visited both properties and both are “comparable to work with.”

“I really do think we are reaching the point on either one of these properties of starting to think about eminent domain,” Hale said. He said he doesn’t like the process, but is in favor of it to get the job done.

Supervisor Connie Brennan suggested waiting longer in the event that other suitable sites are found.

Supervisor Joe Dan Johnson said he agreed with Hale and Harvey.

“None of us like the word eminent domain as a course of business,” Johnson said. “But we’re talking about the health and safety of our county.”

The county held a town hall meeting Aug. 19 at the Faber Rescue Squad building to solicit more public comments about these sites and other county issues.