A lot of people have painted the owner of the land in this article as the bad guy, but he had nothing to do with the bureaucratic ineptitude of the DOT. He will, however, make out like a bandit thanks to the DOT.
everal years ago, the Georgia Department of Transportation changed its plans for the coming interchange at Interstate 75 and Sardis Church Road to protect an historic farmstead already split by the interstate.
The new plan is more expensive and requires the DOT to move or demolish five more homes than the original proposal. But the farm’s owner has since torn down one of the buildings the DOT was trying to protect, and he plans to demolish or move other historic buildings to make way for commercial development.
In the end, south Bibb County farmer and developer Oney Hudson will be able to develop more of his family’s land on either side of I-75 because his land won’t have exit ramps running through it. But the farm that the department went out of its way to protect will be gone.
As the article makes clear, the land owner told the DOT he was fine with the original diamond shaped exchange. Nonetheless, the DOT totally revamped the design to save two buildings the land owner had no intention of saving.
Way to use taxpayers’ dollars wisely DOT!
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Completely off topic, congratulations Erick! http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/Charlie_Crist_Marco_Rubio/2009/05/20/216379.html
Must be a hold-over project from the days of Roy Barnes.
This is not as goofy as it first appears. Or rather, if its goofy, blame it on the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966. The actions of the D.O.T. are completely understandable to those of us who have to deal with environmental regulations affecting projects.
NHPA requires all federal agencies to evaluate the effects of their “actions” [in this case, a Federal Highway Administration (FHwA) project] on properties listed or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If a property is eligible for the National Register, as appears to be the case in this matter, the federal agency consults with DNR Historic Preservation Division to figure out how to avoid or minimize project impacts to the historic property. As the law and regulations are written, this is all pretty much non-discretionary.
Many – perhaps most – environmental laws (think wetlands, endangered species, or soil erosion and sedimentation control laws) apply to any person – individual or corporation – whose activities violate the laws. This is not the case for NHPA. Unless he’s needing some sort of federal permit to sell off his property for development, the landowner can put the torch to any historic building on his property for the purpose of roasting marshmallows if it pleases him to do so. But a federal agency – in this case the FHwA – absolutely must consider the effects of its project on historic properties and figure out how to avoid and/or minimize those effects.
Stupid in this case? Yeah, sure. But everyone who is required to do anything with respect to NHPA in this matter is following the procedures, which follow the regulations, which follow the law as passed and amended. If they don’t follow the procedures, then they’re open to the charge of being arbitrary and capricious in their decision-making, and there’ll be some environmental legal defense fund or a landowner condemnee ready to haul their ass into court. The agencies aren’t going to play that game willingly, so they’ll follow the regs, thereby following the law, and thereby getting their project environmental analysis approved and the project built.
The agencies, therefore, are simply following the laws the people asked to be passed. Significant money is spent every day proving that the effects on the environment of a project have been considered and impacts will be avoided and/or mitigated. It makes everything cost a lot more than it would otherwise cost, but it’s what the people said they wanted. So the agencies do it all by the book and pass the cost back to the people in the forms of higher sales prices, user fees, and/or taxes.
I could tell ya a lot of similar (stupid and goofy) stories. But we get our much-needed projects built.
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