2019 Arkansas Code
Title 18 - Property
Subtitle 2 - Real Property
Chapter 15 - Eminent Domain
Subchapter 10 - Levee and Drainage Districts
§ 18-15-1002. Power of Eminent Domain
(a) The board of directors or commissioners of any levee or drainage district organized under the laws of the State of Arkansas are authorized and empowered to enter upon, take, and hold any lands or premises whatever, located either within or without the boundaries of the district, whether by purchase, grant, donation, devise, or otherwise, that may be necessary and proper for the location, relocation, construction, repair, or maintenance of any line of levees, drains, canals, or ditches, which may be authorized or necessary for any levee or drainage district to construct or make for the purpose of relieving any levee or land adjacent thereto from injury, want of drainage, or for the construction of any drain, ditch, or canal authorized to be constructed.
(b) Any district having the authority to construct levees, ditches, drains, or canals is authorized and empowered to cut and remove trees, timber, and other material that may fall or otherwise encumber or endanger the levees, ditches, canals, drains, or any part thereof.
(c) All levee and drainage districts shall have power to acquire by compromise or by agreement with the owner, or if the owner is a minor, an individual with mental illness, or if the lands belong to the estate of a deceased person, then with the guardian, curator, executor, or administrator, all property and right-of-way required by them.
(d)
(1) Levee and drainage districts may settle all claims for compensation or damages on account of right-of-way for the construction of levees, ditches, canals, or drains or material for the construction, maintenance, or repair of any levee, drain, canal, or ditch. The executor, administrator, or curator shall be responsible, on his or her bond, for the money or other things received in the settlement.
(2) In case of a settlement, the owner, curator, administrator, or executor shall have the power to convey to the levee or drainage district the right-of-way, material, or other property so required. This conveyance shall vest the levee or drainage district with the title to the right-of-way or property acquired pursuant to this section.
