Family loses to road project
Two years ago, Joel DeGraef paid the family trust nearly a half-million dollars for his childhood homestead, where he lives with his girlfriend, two adult children, a 1955 double-decker bus and a pair of Belgian draft horses.
On Tuesday, Stanislaus County leaders agreed that the home, cottage and workshop must go to continue widening Kiernan Avenue, north of Modesto.
This is a story of one family's forced sacrifice for the greater good. Namely, smoothing out traffic on a major road speckled with accidents at a rate 41 percent higher than the statewide average for similar stretches.
It's a story of failed negotiations with a family that doesn't want to leave nearly five decades of memories, especially for the state's offer of $340,000. In its computation, DeGraef says, the government refuses to consider the value of a 1,400-square-foot basement where the YMCA held banquets in the 1950s.
It's a story of eminent domain.
"I'll be upside down with nowhere to live," said DeGraef, after pleading Tuesday with Stanislaus County supervisors to delay seizing a half-acre of his two-acre parcel.
They said no, and the condemnation completed a multiyear effort resulting in the government acquiring 102 strips of land fronting Kiernan, also known as State Route 219. Of those, nearly half -- 48 -- were snatched by the county using its power of eminent domain on behalf of the California Department of Transportation.
Widening Kiernan from two to four lanes has been a priority for at least a decade. Two years ago, crews began phase 1, expanding Kiernan from Highway 99 to just east of Dale Road, a $49.5 million project that is wrapping up.
Phase 2 will extend the job to McHenry Avenue for $55 million -- $104.5 million in all -- paid for mostly in transportation taxes with some federal money. Construction should get under way by year's end.
Of 59 parcels acquired for phase 2, county leaders have taken 30 over owners' complaints.
The government is following long established seizure rules designed to "minimize private impact for the maximum public benefit," said County Counsel John Doering.
That means owners get money. How much is at the heart of disputes, when they arise.
The other 29 accepted offers based on appraisals, as prescribed by law.
DeGraef said that's a farce, because Caltrans employs its appraisers. He asked: How can they be objective?
The one who visited his place was nice at first, he said, but eventually took a hard line, saying something like, "We are the state; we will take your house."
He grew up there, raised a family there, buried generations of dogs there.
"I don't feel it's fair to be cattle-prodded," DeGraef told supervisors Tuesday. "I'm getting left with no homes, no septic, no water -- basically a piece of dirt on the back."
Supervisors Chairman Jeff Grover explained that the matter before the board was strictly limited to answering whether the land is needed to widen Kiernan.
Arguments over compensation are between DeGraef and Caltrans, or in a court of law, Grover said.
DeGraef said several of his neighbors have hired lawyers.
He feels particularly picked on because the widening will chew up land mostly north of Kiernan on his block between Carver and Tully roads, sparing the south side.
Project maps show Kiernan curving from time to time, sometimes sparing the north side, suggesting favoritism, neighbors have said.
Also, the block between Carver and Tully is the only one on the entire road destined for six lanes; the rest will have four.
Caltrans District 10 Director Ross Chittenden said gentle curves were necessary to avoid the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship church, which is eligible for a national registry of historic places, as well as St. Stanislaus School. They're near each other, but on opposite sides of the road.
Intersections at Carver and Tully require six lanes to keep turning traffic from backing up, said Christina Hibbard, project manager for both phases.
Because Carver and Tully are fairly close, "it's safer to keep six lanes between the two," she said.
A depressed economy should mean project savings, Hibbard said. For example, officials acquired $18.8 million in bonds for phase 2 construction costs, and an engineer's recent estimate suggests bids could come in as low as $14.5 million.
And low-balling landowners translates to less of a burden on the rest of the taxpayers.
Leaders seemed sympathetic, to a point, with DeGraef and his girlfriend, Susan Adams, who also has a financial interest in the property.
"I'd feel the same way if I was him," Doering said.
Supervisor Bill O'Brien's motion on Tuesday included asking Caltrans "to be fair with the property owner. We're taking away his home, his property; let's just be as fair as we can," O'Brien said.
Bee staff writer Garth Stapley can be reached at gstapley@modbee.com or 578-2390.
This story was originally published June 27, 2010 at 1:23 AM with the headline "Family loses to road project."