Project Types
Water, sewer, gas and distribution corridors, the easements they take, and what they leave you with.
Utility acquisitions in North Carolina are usually easements rather than outright purchases. The utility takes the right to install and maintain its facilities across a defined strip, and you keep ownership of the ground subject to that right.
That distinction matters less than owners expect. An easement that prohibits structures, restricts planting and permits access at any time can remove most of the practical value of the land it crosses.
Utilities can be private condemnors. Section 40A-3(a) gives condemnation authority to defined private bodies including pipeline, power, water and sewerage companies for specified facilities. Local public condemnors under section 40A-3(b) acquire for public utilities too.
The short answer
Read the easement, not just the cheque. The width of the strip, what you may still do inside it, who may enter and whether facilities can later be added are all terms, and they decide the value.
What the corridor permits and what it costs.
In preparationA strip acquired across a larger holding.
Read moreDamage to the land either side of the corridor.
In preparationFields, drainage and equipment crossing a corridor.
Read moreIrrigation, livestock movement and buildings.
Read moreWhat North Carolina pays for.
Read moreA fixed width is one thing. A right to a corridor the utility may later widen is another.
Restrictions on structures, paving, fencing, ponds and trees all narrow what the strip is worth to you.
A right of entry across the rest of your land, rather than along the corridor, spreads the burden well beyond the strip.
A non exclusive easement permitting continued farming or crossing is materially less damaging.
Section 40A-3(a) allows defined private condemnors, including pipeline, power and water companies, to acquire property for the facilities the statute lists.
Generally yes. You retain the fee and the utility holds the rights described in the easement. What those rights permit is the whole question.
Through the same partial taking framework. Section 40A-64 gives the greater of the before and after reduction across the entire tract, or the value of the interest taken.
A temporary construction easement should. A permanent easement does not, which is exactly why its terms deserve close reading.
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