Parks, trails, broadband, flood control and the acquisitions that fit no obvious category.
Not every acquisition belongs to a highway, a utility or a redevelopment scheme. Virginia property is also taken for parks and trails, greenways, flood control and resilience work, broadband infrastructure, conservation and public buildings of every kind.
The category is untidy but the law is not. The same constitutional standard applies, the same procedure runs, and the same questions about the land you keep still need answering.
The test every project must meet.
Read moreEasementsTrail, access and conservation rights.
Read moreRural landLarge holdings crossed by a trail or corridor.
Read moreAgricultural propertyWorking land and its particular losses.
Read moreRemaining propertyDamage to the residue.
Read moreCompensationWhat Virginia pays for.
Read morePublic access adjacent to private land raises privacy, security and fencing questions that belong in the residue analysis.
An easement restricting future use is a taking of development potential, and should be valued as such.
A cabinet or a pole may occupy little ground and still sit in the worst possible place.
Schemes that hold water on your land are taking a right, not borrowing one.
Public recreation is a recognised public purpose. The condemnor still carries the burden of proving public use under Article I Section 11, without a presumption in its favour.
Where it is imposed through condemnation rather than agreed voluntarily, it is a property right taken and compensation follows.
Sometimes the reverse is true. Small takes in bad positions produce the largest proportionate damage to the residue.
Explore Virginia resources matched to your property, the project affecting it, and the stage you have reached.
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