“This is America, after all,” he said. “When one of your most basic freedoms of land ownership is under threat, no one can rest easy.”

This is the response by a man who had his family home condemned by the City of Greenville, South Carolina to build a riverfront greenbelt. The cities taking of the property under eminent domain was stopped by a court case for 3 years. And are you ready for the real kicker, the jury came back and awarded the homeowner 1.825 million dollars for the property, four times the value appraisers had put on it.

Mitchell had said in court he thought the 1910 brick building his family had owned for about 50 years was worth $1.7 million, about four times the value his appraiser put on it.

The jury awarded $975,000 to Mitchell’s downtown neighbor Jeanette Surratt, who also had owned her building for about 50 years. Surratt had testified her building was worth at least $850,000, more than four times what her appraiser had said.

Unless it appeals, the city now must pay $5.4 million to three landowners who fought its condemnation of their South Main Street properties, now being used as public access to the Reedy River. In a separate trial last week, a jury awarded Verne Cassaday $2.6 million for his land.

Greenville Mayor Knox White said the city and the landowners had agreed to take the matter to court to let a jury decide the value, and that’s what happened.

“They’ve spoken,” White said. via GreenvilleOnline.com

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