City, property owners voice their sides in historic land condemnation court case

The owner of a historic Bloomfield Road property wants the city of Cape Girardeau to pay him another $45,000 in “heritage value” in a condemnation case involving reconstruction and widening of the road and the addition of a recreational trail.

Both sides pitched their arguments in an evidentiary hearing Thursday in a small, basement courtroom at the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse in Jackson before Judge Rob Fulton.

The hearing, which lasted more than three hours, focused on whether the street and trail project prevents property owners Patrick and Cheryl Evans of Elmwood Farms from using the property in “substantially the same manner” as it was used before the city took nearly two acres of a 17-acre tract in July 2016.

Attorney Mary Boner, representing the city, argued Elmwood Farms is not entitled to additional compensation.

A decision is not expected before the end of October.

In August, the city agreed to pay the Evanses $90,000 to partially settle the land condemnation case.

But under state law, a court must approve a 50-percent increase in the condemnation payment if it is found the land had heritage value.

To qualify for heritage value, the property must have been owned within the same family for more than 50 years and the condemnation must affect the use of the property, according to a trial brief.

The Spanish-land-grant property was settled by a Cape Girardeau pioneer family and has been in the same family for more than 200 years, local historian Frank Nickell testified.

Nickell said the public-works project has destroyed what was once a scenic, tree-lined two-mile stretch of Bloomfield Road. The road, he said, was once an Indian trail and has been a route to and from Cape Girardeau for centuries.

The country lane leading to the Elmwood house “has been compromised,” he said. “I think we are all going to be losers because of that,” Nickell said.

Under cross-examination from Boner, Nickell acknowledged a Dalhousie golf cart path crosses the Elmwood drive at a distance closer to the house than the recreational trail. But Nickell said that in his many trips to the property he has not seen a single golf cart by the drive.

Elmwood Farms’ attorney, James F. Waltz, argued the condemnation and road project has made significant changes to the Evans’ property, home of the historic Elmwood manor.

He said:

• Bloomfield Road now is realigned 14 feet to the west, closer to the Evans’ property.
• Shoulder of Bloomfield Road has been eliminated and replaced with curb and gutter and the grade of the road raised, hampering access to the property.
• Entrance to the Elmwood property from Bloomfield Road has been narrowed from 65 to 50 feet.
• A new recreational trail now stands in front of the historic Elmwood gate and the trail easement extends behind it.
• Sixteen mature trees were removed, affecting the aesthetic value and the site integrity.
• Recreational trail could lead to trail users trespassing on the Elmwood site

Appraiser James Hendren testified Thursday the use of Elmwood for historic purposes offered “the highest and best use of the property.”

Hendren said tall trees once stood near the road. That land now is “pretty much barren,” he said.

“In my opinion, the utilization is now diminished,” he told the court.

The city took more than 26 percent of the estimated 7.5 acres of non-flood-zone land within the 17-acre tract, Hendren testified.

In cross-examination, Boner pointed out more than 900 acres of the original Elmwood estate have been developed into the Dalhousie Golf Club and related residences.

Patrick Evans said he wants to preserve the historic home and the surrounding land, possibly as a museum. He said maintaining the house is costly.

“It’s a money pit,” he said.

Evans said the road and trail project has “ruined” what had been a scenic entrance to his property.

“It looks awful,” he said.

City engineer Casey Brunke testified a growing volume of traffic on the road prompted the transportation project, which was approved by voters.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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