Property Types
What a corridor does to working land, and the losses that never appear on a plan sheet.
North Carolina has a great deal of working agricultural land, and public projects cross it constantly. A highway corridor, a transmission line or a water main will often take a narrow strip and leave the owner with most of their acreage, which can make an offer look generous until you look at what the remaining land can still do.
Farmland is valued on what it produces and how it is worked. A corridor that severs a field, interrupts drainage or blocks equipment movement damages the remainder in ways that the acreage figure does not capture.
The measure is on your side here. Section 40A-64 gives the greater of the before and after reduction across the entire tract, or the value of the part taken. On agricultural land the before and after figure is very often the larger one, because the harm is spread across the whole holding.
The short answer
Do not value the strip. Value the farm before the project and the farm afterwards, and insist that both calculations are done.
A corridor across a working holding.
Read moreWhat the land can still do afterwards.
In preparationField entrances and internal crossings.
Read moreWhat the corridor permits you to continue doing.
In preparationBuildings, irrigation and livestock movement.
Read moreWater, sewer, gas and distribution corridors.
Read moreLand on the far side of a new corridor may be uneconomic to work if equipment cannot reach it. That is a remainder question, not an access inconvenience.
Tile, ditches and natural fall are easily interrupted by a corridor or an embankment. Water that ponds on the remainder reduces what it will grow.
Combine and sprayer widths, turning circles and headlands are specific. A crossing that suits a pickup may not suit the machinery you actually run.
A centre pivot interrupted by an easement corridor may not be reconfigurable, and that is a loss to the remainder.
Awkward triangles left beside a new corridor are frequently unworkable, and their loss belongs in the claim.
Changes in how land is classified or assessed after a taking are worth raising with your advisers.
Often yes, and the reverse of what owners expect. A narrow corridor across a working holding can damage the remainder far more than its acreage suggests, and section 40A-64 is designed to capture exactly that.
Temporary construction easements and the disturbance they cause are part of what is acquired. Raise it specifically rather than assuming it is included.
It depends entirely on the terms. A non exclusive easement may permit cultivation. One prohibiting deep tillage or structures may not. Read the document before agreeing.
An appraiser with genuine agricultural experience will reach different conclusions from a generalist. This is worth raising with a licensed North Carolina attorney early.
Explore North Carolina resources matched to your property, the project affecting it, and the stage you have reached.
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