2009 Iowa Code
Title 8 - Transportation
Subtitle 1 - Highways and Waterways
CHAPTER 306 - ESTABLISHMENT, ALTERATION, AND VACATION OF HIGHWAYS
306.19 - RIGHT-OF-WAY -- ACCESS -- NOTICE.

        306.19  RIGHT-OF-WAY -- ACCESS -- NOTICE.
         1.  In the maintenance, relocation, establishment, or improvement
      of any road, including the extension of such road within cities, the
      agency having jurisdiction and control of such road shall have
      authority to purchase or to institute and maintain proceedings for
      the condemnation of the necessary right-of-way therefor.  Such agency
      shall likewise have power to purchase or institute and maintain
      proceedings for the condemnation of land necessary for highway
      drainage, or land containing gravel or other suitable material for
      the improvement or maintenance of highways, together with the
      necessary road access or right of access thereto.
         2.  Whenever the agency condemns or purchases property access
      rights or alters by lengthening any existing driveway to a road from
      abutting property, except during the time required for construction
      and maintenance of the road or highway, the agency shall:
         a.  Compensate the owner for any diminution in the market
      value of the property by the denial or alteration by lengthening the
      driveway.  In computing the diminution in value, no consideration
      shall be given to the additional maintenance expense for maintaining
      the additional length of driveway, but in lieu thereof, both in
      condemnation proceedings or negotiated purchases, the agency shall
      pay to the owner the sum of twenty dollars for every lineal foot of
      additional length of driveway located on the owner's property.  This
      payment shall represent just compensation to the property owner for
      the additional driveway maintenance caused by reason of the highway
      or road project.
         b.  If in the opinion of the agency it would be more
      economical to purchase the entire tract of the property owner than to
      provide and pay the maintenance expense required under the provisions
      of this section, proceed with the acquisition of the entire tract of
      land; or
         c.  If mutually agreeable, move buildings from an existing
      location to a location requiring an equal or lesser length of
      driveway and provide an adequate driveway to a public road.
         3.  None of the foregoing requirements shall prohibit the property
      owner and the agency from entering into a mutually acceptable
      agreement for the replacement, relocation, construction, or
      maintenance of any alternate driveway on the owner's property.
      Compensation for any property rights taken in the establishment of
      any alternative temporary or permanent access shall be paid as in any
      other purchase or condemnation of property.
         4.  Proceedings for the condemnation of land for any highway shall
      be under the provisions of chapter 6A and chapter 6B.  Provided that,
      in the condemnation of right-of-way for secondary roads that is
      contiguous to existing road right-of-way for the maintenance, safety
      improvement, or upgrade of the existing secondary road, the board of
      supervisors may proceed as provided in sections 306.28 to 306.37.
         5. a.  The department may notify a city or county that a road
      under the jurisdiction or control of the department will be
      established, improved, relocated, or maintained and that the
      department may need to acquire additional right-of-way or property
      rights within an area described by the department.  The notice shall
      include a depiction of the area on a map provided by the city,
      county, or the department.  This notice shall be valid for a period
      of three years from the date of notification to the city or county
      and may be refiled by the department every three years.  Within seven
      days of filing the notice, the department shall publish in a
      newspaper of public record a description and map of the area and a
      description of the potential restrictions applied to the city or
      county with respect to the granting of building permits, approving of
      subdivision plats, or zoning changes within the area.
         b.  The city or county shall notify the department of an
      application for a building permit for construction valued at
      twenty-five thousand dollars or more, of the submission of a
      subdivision plat, or of a proposed zoning change within the area at
      least thirty days prior to granting the proposed building permit,
      approving the subdivision plat, or changing the zoning.
         c.  If the department, within the thirty-day period, notifies
      the city or county that the department is proceeding to acquire all
      or part of the property or property rights affecting the area, the
      city or county shall not issue the building permit, approve the
      subdivision plat, or change the zoning.  The department may apply to
      the city or county for an extension of the thirty-day period.  After
      a public hearing on the matter, the city or county may grant an
      additional sixty- day extension of the period.
         d.  The department shall begin the process of acquiring
      property or property rights from affected persons within ten days of
      the department's written notification of intent to the city or
      county.
         6.  If the agency determines that it is necessary to relocate a
      utility facility, the agency shall have the authority to institute
      and maintain proceedings on behalf of the owner of the utility
      facility for the condemnation of replacement property rights.  The
      replacement property rights shall be equal in substance to the
      existing rights of the owner of the utility facility, except that the
      replacement property rights shall be for a width and location deemed
      appropriate and necessary for the needs of the owner of the utility
      facility, as determined by the agency and the owner of the facility.
      The replacement property rights of the owner of the utility facility
      shall be subordinate to the rights of the agency only to the extent
      necessary for the construction and maintenance of the designated
      road.  Within a reasonable time after completion of the relocation,
      all previously owned property rights of the owner of the utility
      facility no longer required for operation and maintenance of the
      utility facility shall be released or conveyed to the appropriate
      parties.  The authority of the agency under this subsection may only
      be exercised upon execution of a relocation agreement between the
      agency and the owner of the utility facility.  For purposes of this
      subsection, "utility facility" means an electric, gas, water,
      steam power, or materials transmission or distribution system; a
      transportation system; a communications system, including cable
      television; and fixtures, equipment, or other property associated
      with the operation, maintenance, or repair of the system.  A utility
      facility may be publicly, privately, or cooperatively owned.
         7.  For the purposes of this section, the term "driveway"
      shall mean a way of ingress and egress located entirely on private
      property, consisting of a lane or passageway leading from a residence
      to a public roadway or highway.  

         Section History: Early Form

         [C24, § 4732; C27, 31, 35, § 4755-b27; C39, § 4658, 4683.23,
      4755.23; C46, 50, § 309.64, 310.23, 313.25; C54, 58, 62, 66, §
      306.13; C71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, § 306.19] 

         Section History: Recent Form

         91 Acts, ch 114, §1; 94 Acts, ch 1030, §1; 95 Acts, ch 135, §2; 96
      Acts, ch 1126, § 1; 99 Acts, ch 171, §26, 27, 42; 2001 Acts, ch 32,
      §1
         Referred to in § 331.304