Having to find another home to move to

LoganAllen

My grandmother (86) has Alzheimer's she lives with me, I take care of her, and she has been living in the home I grew up in since 1970. The city we live in is now forcing us out of our home. They want our whole property for their new main street sidewalk project. There is already a sidewalk alongside main street, well they want a 10-foot-wide sidewalk now and the other properties alongside main street the city is only taking a few feet. My property is the only one they want the whole thing from. They will be tearing my house down to turn my property into a Pollinator Meadow. Well, the city hand delivered a packet about two weeks ago and the letter said that the city would be having a council meeting Nov. 14 at city hall and that mayor and council would be taking a vote on the prosses of taking our property by eminent domain and that they invite us to the meeting and strongly recommend us coming. It's just super stressful we have not found another house to move into yet nor had I have time to go out and see any homes in person because my grandmother can't be left alone and if  she does feels like getting out of the house and it's a struggle whenever we do get out, she is wheelchair bound now so it takes us a bit to get where we are going. and our neighbors around told us to get a lawyer and I'm like we can't afford one and it's just a whole mess I'm dealing with.

SusanB-dil

oh, LoganAllen - just something else you don't need to be dealing with. so sorry. 

could you maybe just consult with a lawyer? sometimes just a consultation is free.

mommyandme (m&m)

That sounds terrible, I’m so sorry. If you must look for a new dwelling maybe you could do some of the leg work by phone then set up appointments.  If possible, hire someone in to watch over grandma while you do the looking.  Depending on her stage of Alzheimer’s maybe she can’t or shouldn’t really be involved in the actual decision making? 

I’d definitely get involved in the meeting and maybe even get the press involved so the citizens will know the city is trying to remove an elderly woman with dementia from her family home for a bigger sidewalk?! Of course, grandma may need to stay safely at home while you do this, if you can find some help to stay with her.  

This is not something either of you should be having to deal with.  I’m so sorry! 

LoganAllen

mommyandme (m&m)  

in 2019 The first set of plans the city had them just taking 50 feet from the center of the road well then in 2021 they had another meeting to show the updated plans and that was when I saw that my property the whole entire property was shaded in for a retention pond. but then I found out that its goanna be a freaking flower garden. Huh there is already a sidewalk there and its safe and useable, so I just don't understand why the need for 10-foot-wide sidewalk. The city hired a 3rd party and they 1st offered us $140k then they said we would get a housing replacement payment. We cannot find another house for that price here in the city we live in so we would have to move out far away from all her doctors and health care stuff and I have already brought this up to the city and they sent out the appraiser during covid to take pictures inside and out then last month they got mad when i refused to let a new appraiser (who works with the 1st guy they used) come back into my home and take pictures so I figured that's why they hit me with the eminent domain letter 

JJ401

Reality is it’s extremely hard to fight eminent domain.

 “If you’re dead set against selling your property to the government, you have the right to fight eminent domain in court. However, the only way to pull off this feat is to prove the government does not plan to use your land for justified public use — an unlikely outcome. …

So, if you find yourself in an eminent domain situation, your best bet is to lawyer up, get a skilled real estate agent on your team, and work to negotiate the best price and terms you possibly can in the deal.”

https://www.homelight.com/blog/what-is-eminent-domain/

Reality is that you are going to have to move. Your job now is to get the best deal you can. You need a skilled real estate savvy lawyer. You need your own appraisal to negotiate with. (You need to let in the city appraiser. The new appraisal should come in higher.)

They should also be giving you moving costs. (My brother in law had a property taken by eminent domain. His buyout included moving costs.) 

You need to consult a skilled real estate lawyer before the hearing. 

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BassetHoundAnn

This is so sad and outrageous. I'm sorry that you and your grandmother are going through this LoganAllen. The others are correct: you need to get a good, politically well-connected lawyer ASP. Ideally one who has fought eminent domain seizures in the past. You should also contact the local TV stations and newspaper. 

Have you spoken to your local alder/council-person? That should be one of your first calls. He or she can tell you whether other council members can be effectively lobbied to vote against the seizure. And, if he/she is on your side, may even be persuaded to do some lobbying, or at least give you advice on how to proceed to prepare for the November meeting. 

We're going through a similar kerfuffle in our neighborhood and yes it involves a planned retention pond and pollinator garden that the city encouraged activists to plant a year ago but is now bulldozing. Retention ponds and native gardens seem to be the stuff that urban plans are made of these days, although commercial land is never seized for such projects. Our alder has been good about helping us get in contact with outside experts to speak to the council about elements of the project that would be environmentally ill-advised.   

When our city has seized property by eminent domain they typically offer the owners a pittance of the property's value. This is going to be a long hard battle which is why you need a good lawyer on your side. At the very least your grandmother should be well-compensated and provided with help relocating. 

Again I'm so sorry. You shouldn't have to go through this with everything else on your plate. 

SusanB-dil

Thought of something you might try...  Maybe get your local news station involved. It could generate support, and it may get others to stand up for you as well.  Tell them what you've mentioned here and that there is a council meeting coming up. Tell them including the part about the appraiser, and that you really shouldn't just uproot someone in such a fragile state of mind.  Do you have an 'on-your-side' segment of some type in one of your local stations?

dayn2nite2

Also, I would suggest 2 other things.  Make sure your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are working or install new ones.

Second, install lighting outside that detects motion so the lights come on if anything is moving around outside.  Reason?

In a very large city near me, there was a battle over a tract of land where everyone else sold out to a private company except for one person.  That person jacked up the price of their property (as they had a right to) to a level where the private company didn't want to pay it.

The city cannot use eminent domain because that can only be used for projects that are of benefit to a community and not a private company.

Guess what?  Mysteriously, the home on the remaining property caught fire in the middle of the night recently.  Total loss.  Luckily the home was vacant, but now it's just a piece of land which does affect the price.

Never underestimate the dirty tricks that can be carried out when cities and companies are dead set on getting something done.

SusanB-dil

Oh my, dayn2nite2 - that is horrible!  Unfortunately, makes sense to watch out for, but wow!