The Fruita City Council authorized city staff to move forward with eminent domain proceedings to acquire right-of-way from two properties along 19 Road to accommodate its planned expansion of that road.
The Council voted unanimously to pass a resolution to move forward with the proceedings for 966 19 Road and 993 19 Road. The other 20 property owners the city acquired right-of-way property from without using the eminent domain process, Project Manager Steve Martinez said.
Martinez gave the council background about the project and the timeline of events leading up to staff determining that eminent domain proceedings were necessary. The project, which was identified in the city鈥檚 circulation plan, will widen 19 Road to three lanes with bike lanes in each direction and a sidewalk on the east side of the property.
The city began the property acquisition portion of the project in 2023 and in 2024 held several public meetings, Martinez said. Revisions to the project were made based on public feedback.
Martinez said the city had all the property acquisitions appraised and made offers based on fair market value to the property owners. He said the owners of 966 19 Road 鈥 Richard and Shelby Bedow 鈥 did not accept the city鈥檚 offers, but made a counter offer the city did not accept.
鈥淥ur offer that we had on the table was going to be our final offer, and that took place on Dec. 10,鈥 Martinez said. 鈥淒ec. 12, they declined the second iteration of our offer and then on Dec. 17 we gave them a 10-day final notice that expired on Jan. 2. And then the evening of Jan. 1, we got in writing the decline for this final offer from Mr. and Mrs. Bedow.鈥
The amount of property the city intends to acquire from the Bedows鈥 property is 20-feet by 300-feet along 19 Road 鈥 around 6,000 square feet. Even through the eminent domain process, the city must provide fair compensation for the property, City Attorney Mary Elizabeth Geiger said.
Mayor Matthew Breman asked whether the acquisition of the property would impact the owner鈥檚 ability to farm or ranch the property. Martinez said it would not affect that, including not changing the number of cattle they would be allowed to raise on the property according to Mesa County guidelines.
Shelby Bedow was one of two speakers who made public comments at the meeting in opposition to the expansion of 19 Road.
鈥淭he City of Fruita鈥檚 expansion on 19 Road is due to forced growth on the 69传媒 due to the subdivisions of the cities allowed,鈥 Bedow said.
According to the staff report, the expansion of 19 Road is intended to accommodate increased traffic in the area because of a nearby school and development on Fruita鈥檚 east side.
The city tried to contact the owner of 993 19 Road, but discovered the owner had passed away. The property had not been transferred to another party, but the former owner鈥檚 daughter intends to work through the probate process, Martinez said. Because of the timeline for the project, Martinez said staff recommended utilizing eminent domain for that property as well.
Mayor Pro Tem Aaron Hancey said he appreciated how city staff have gone through this process. He said they have taken the appropriate time to be fair to the property owners along 19 Road.
鈥淚 know one thing that breaks my heart is that there鈥檚 been miscommunication that we鈥檙e taking a farm away,鈥 Hancey said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not taking a farm away. We are appropriately compensating for 6,000 square feet on this property.鈥
