'Can They Just Take My Home?' Asked The City of Atlanta Homeowner
What a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday it was for our family! Lots of family, abundance of food, and lots of fun. The Philadelphia Eagles didn't know they had such enthusiatic fans in Atlanta.
So as we are enjoying the blessing of being together, a question comes up from the homeowners. It turns out the City of Atlanta has plans to improve the flow of rainwater in the area by creating a new water park. In order to create the new water park structure, the City of Atlanta has stated it intends to purchase properties in a two block area, tear them down, and develop the new water park structure.
I was little surprised that I had not heard anything about the project as I try to keep my ear on the street about real estate related issues like this one. I promised that I would research the issue next week and get back to the homeowners.
We continued to have conversation about the situation, and the question that came up is 'can they just take my home?' The answer depends.
The City of Atlanta should offer the owners a market value price for the home is they intend to go forward with the project and tear down the improvement on the property. If the owners do not accept the offer, the City of Atlanta may exercise the law of eminent domain.
Eminent domain gives government the authority to take property if it deems the property to have a higher use than its existing use. So if the new water park project is a better use of the land, the owners may be forced to sell their property to the City of Atlanta.
I have committed to research the issue and get back to the owners. I am curious to hear what the City of Atlanta will tell me.
The area has experienced a significant amount of flooding during our very heavy rainfall in the last few years. So the change does seem to be beneficial to the area in general. But the City of Atlanta should seriously consider how it's treating the existing homeowners.
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