Eminent Domain Report

Acquiring a fee interest in property seems to be so out-of-style.  Nearly every linear infrastructure project I work on now involves the acquisition of various types of easements, whether its a typical temporary construction easement, access easement, street/highway easement, or transmission line easement, or a more complicated aerial easement, parking structure easement, or floating easement.  The scope and terms of these easements can have massive ramifications on compensation, and particularly severance damages to impacted properties.  If you're interested in learning more about these issues, check out the 3Q 2017 volume of the Appraisal Institute's magazine, Valuation, which published a recent article I wrote titled the Art of Easements.

The article covers how appraisers can assist agencies in defining the scope of the easement, analyzing the "most injurious use," and unique valuation issues involving temporary construction easements.  I hope you enjoy, and feel free to leave a comment if you have any thoughts or questions about the article.