Fayette County school officials were thinking about cost savings when they decided to declare eminent domain on five properties next to the Rise STEM Academy for Girls on Versailles Road.
That land was needed for expanded bus lanes off Versailles Road up to the new school, Fayette schools' chief operating officer Myron Thompson said in an interview on Wednesday.
Expanding to the right of the property would require a strip of backyards of houses on Fair Oaks and Port Royal Drives. That appraised cost would be about $40,000 paid to homeowners if the school district condemned the land under eminent domain.
The alternative - moving the bus lane into the green space to the left - would cost about $250,000, because it would require moving some utilities and a retaining basin to make way for the road.
Land use attorney George Allgeier, who is representing the district, said the district compromised, taking less of the backyards than originally planned.
"We tried to work with the owners, we made offers, and they just were not willing to negotiate, " Allgeier said, noting that eminent domain is always a solution of last resort. "And so that's brought us to where we are now."
Thompson said he made the recommendation to continue with eminent domain to the school board, which met in closed session on Aug. 4. The board voted in agreement. Board chairman Tyler Murphy did not immediately respond to a call for comment about the board's deliberations.
The 35-acre property, which the district bought in 2022 for $10.1 million, ascends up a hill, where the 900-student school is being built. Thompson said they wanted to keep the green space open.
"We rely on our design professionals to sort of help us plot out what the property is going to ultimately do," he said. "With this particular track being such a large track, we're not only thinking about next year, but perhaps the next 30 years, because if there are other projects or other needs, we want to be able to utilize the full aspect of the property. So that's why extending as far away from the property to the boundary is beneficial to us. It sort of frees up the rest of the site for future development."
Ross Tarrant Architects is designing the school. There is another entrance to the property on Mason Headley Road that will be used for cars, while Versailles will be used for buses.
"In my professional opinion, and again, empathetic to the property owners, but having to look at the entirety of the project, the cost that would be born to either appease five individuals versus the entire school community, it was just the best business decision from a legal and financial standpoint," Thompson said.
But those projected cost savings may go up in smoke, because the homeowners are planning to sue, said attorney Bruce Simpson, who is representing them.
The workers are already digging up the property, which homeowners believe is trespassing. Allgeier said under a legal term called "adverse possession," the district is legally able to start work. Former property owner Dudley Webb used the road as a driveway and built a fence on the property line with the homeowners' permission more than a decade ago.
Given recent developments with the district's budget, we can all appreciate the desire for cost savings. But eminent domain is a deeply unpopular solution, and the homeowners I spoke with on Tuesday are not going to give up this fight any time soon.
