N.C. Appeals Court says state must pay landowners, takes shot at Map Act

You may recall BASE addressing the Corridor Map Act during the 2011 General Assembly via SB214. This bill limited the amount of time that land could be encumbered by the Map Act and was signed by the governor as SL2011-242.

Recently, the NC Court of Appeals took up the issue as well. From the Winston-Salem Journal:

“In a ruling that could force sweeping changes in how the state builds highways, the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the state must pay a group of landowners whose properties are in the designated path of the Northern Beltway, even though work on the parts of the beltway in their neighborhoods could be many years away.

Chief Appeals Court Judge Linda McGee, writing for the three-judge panel, said the N.C. Department of Transportation had “exercised its power of eminent domain when it filed the transportation corridor maps for the Western and Eastern loops” of the Northern Beltway around Winston-Salem.” FULL STORY