2011 Vermont Code
Title 19 Highways
Chapter 5 CONDEMNATION
§ 502 Authority; precondemnation procedure

§ 502. Authority; precondemnation procedure

(a) The transportation board, when in its judgment the interest of the state requires, shall request the agency to take any land or rights in land, including easements of access, air, view and light, deemed necessary to lay out, relocate, alter, construct, reconstruct, maintain, repair, widen, grade, or improve any state highway including affected portions of town highways. All property rights shall be taken in fee simple whenever practicable. In furtherance of these purposes, the agency may enter upon land adjacent to the proposed highway or upon other lands for the purpose of examination and making necessary surveys. However, that work shall be done with minimum damage to the land and disturbance to the owners.

(b) The agency, in the construction and maintenance of limited access highway facilities, may also take any land or rights of the landowner in land under 9 V.S.A. chapter 93, subchapter 2, relating to advertising on limited access highways.

(c) A public hearing shall be held for the purpose of receiving suggestions and recommendations from the public prior to the agency's initiating proceedings under this chapter for the acquisition of any lands or rights. The hearing shall be conducted by the agency. Public notice shall be given by printing the official notice not less than 30 days prior to the hearing in a newspaper having general circulation in the area affected. A copy of the notice shall be mailed to the board, the legislative bodies of the municipalities affected and a copy sent by certified mail to all known owners of lands and rights in land affected by the proposed improvement.

The notice shall set forth the purpose for which the land or rights are desired and shall generally describe the improvement to be made.

The board may designate one or more members to attend the hearing and shall do so if a written request is filed with the board at least 10 days prior to the public hearing.

At the hearing the agency shall set forth the reasons for the selection of the route intended and shall hear and consider all objections, suggestions for changes and recommendations made by any person interested.

If no board member attended the hearing, a written request may be filed with the board within 30 days after the public hearing asking the board to review the project and the record of the hearing. In such event, the board shall complete its review within 30 days after the request.

Following the hearing, unless otherwise directed by the board, the agency may proceed to lay out the highway and survey and acquire the land to be taken or affected, giving consideration to any objections, suggestions and recommendations received from the public.

(d) The agency shall not take land or any right in land that is owned by a town or union school district and being used for school purposes until the voters of the district have voted on the issue of taking at a meeting called for that purpose. A special meeting of the town or union school district shall be called promptly upon receiving notice of a public hearing unless the annual meeting is to be held within 30 days after receiving the notice of public hearing. Due consideration shall be given by the court to the result of the vote, in addition to the other factors referred to in section 501 of this title, in determining necessity.

(e) In the interests of orderly and effective future planning, the agency may acquire land and rights in land to be used for highway purposes within the reasonably foreseeable future, including but not limited to future construction of four-lane highways on routes presently designed for construction of two lanes, and the construction of interchanges, bridges, and all other improvements to existing highways or highways presently scheduled for construction. In the case of the laying out of highways on a new location, "reasonably foreseeable future" means projects on which construction is to be commenced in a period not exceeding 15 years from the date of acquisition. In the event the agency determines that the land is no longer necessary for use as a highway, it shall immediately sell the property at public sale to private persons, giving consideration to the adjoining landowners. (Added 1985, No. 269 (Adj. Sess.), { 1; amended 1993, No. 172 (Adj. Sess.), { 20.)