Property in the Path of a Road Alignment is Not Enough - Must be Within Boundaries of Condemning Authority
On January 8, 2008, Maricopa County Superior Court ruled that the Town of Gilbert could not condemn private property that was within a Maricopa County island to expand a town road. Gilbert needs 80 feet of the property owner's yard, 40 feet of which is in the county island and 40 feet of which is in the Town of Gilbert. Gilbert condemned the entire 80 feet. The property owner's land is in the path of the planned road and is adjacent to land in the Town of Gilbert that Gilbert purchased for a road widening project. The court ruled that the 40 feet in the county island is outside Gilbert's reach. Gilbert reportedly went to work immediately to get the county's cooperation fo a condemnation of the land in the county island.
For more, read East Valley Tribune - "Court Rejects Gilbert..."
For the court to have allowed the town to condemn county property would have been to condone an constitutionally prohibited taking of a municipality's property by another governmental entity.
