Interesting Winston-Salem Journal editorial on the eminent domain battle between the city and Harvey Davis:
As the city of Winston-Salem uses eminent domain to get Harvey Davis’ garage near Winston-Salem State University, it must make every effort to help him find a new home for his auto-repair business. His plans for moving it to Stratford Road are fizzling because he can’t get the needed rezoning, and he may well need help finding a new site.
Of course the easy thing to do would be for the city to simply rezone the Stratford Road property. That would upset neighbors, who say they don’t want to live next to a car repair business.
Problem is even if the city bucks the neighbors and rezones the property, that does not resolve the eminent domain dispute. Davis thinks the property is worth $1.8 million, period, and the city thinks it’s worth $680k, period. That’s where it stands right now, and neither side is budging.
Of course the Journal has a third alternative: let Davis lease his property until the city is ready build its so-called transportation hub. “It’s the least they can do,” the Journal reasons.
Let’s see —- low ball a property owner and then benevolently allow him to pay on a lease for who knows how many years as gov’t funding trickles at a snail’s pace for a project that will benefit maybe 5 percent of the population.
Yeah, I’d say that’s the least the city could do.
