Take that: Farmer’s attorney files motion to invalidate Caroline County’s exercise of eminent domain
- Taft Coghill Jr.
- Sep 8, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Sep 20, 2024
After the Caroline County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously June 18 to condemn 11 acres of a fifth-generation farmer’s land and exercise eminent domain to acquire the property and construct a water intake facility along the Rappahannock River, Cory and Rebekah Garrett pledged to fight it every step of the way.
The county filed a Certificate of Take to acquire the land on July 22 and the following day filed a petition to condemn the property on Tidewater Trail.
After being dealt those blows, the Garretts are now taking the fight to the county.
Their attorney, Joshua Baker, filed a motion in Caroline County Circuit Court on Aug. 28 to invalidate the Certificate of Take and dismiss the petition to condemn the property.
Baker, an attorney for the Norfolk-based Waldo & Lynn law firm, requested that the court schedule a hearing to invalidate the Certificate of Take and dismiss the Petition in Condemnation and reimburse the Garretts all disbursements and legal fees associated with the case. If the case is to move forward, Baker requested that the court sets an evidentiary hearing that will force the county to present evidence to establish the “public use” for which it condemned the property.
Baker wrote in his motion that the county’s proposal to pump approximately 14 million gallons of water a day 35 miles from the Rappahannock River to serve the growing western part of the county is an unconstitutional “speculative project.”
Baker’s motion states the county’s actions do not meet Virginia’s requirements for eminent domain and are tied to aiding economic growth, particularly the recruitment of data centers that require large amounts of water to operate.
State law requires that any jurisdiction exercising the power of eminent domain must show that the acquisition of the property is necessary for a public purpose. Christopher Mackenzie, the attorney for the county, stated in the petition to condemn that localities are authorized to take land for the purpose of constructing water supply systems, citing Virginia code. The county offered $78,400 for the property.
