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SARATOGA COUNTY
Appraisals on eminent domain parcels ordered
Some 20 properties sought to construct county water pipeline
BY STEPHEN WILLIAMS Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Stephen Williams at 885-6705 or swilliams@dailygazette.net.

    A judge has given the county Water Authority 60 days to obtain appraisals on about 20 properties it wants to take by condemnation for its new water line.
    State Supreme Court Justice Thomas D. Nolan Jr., who is hearing the eminent domain cases, granted an adjournment until July 21 after a brief hearing Friday in Ballston Spa.
    The properties are on the route of the 28-mile pipeline being built from Moreau to Malta as part of the $67 million county water project.
    The county over the last year reached voluntary settlements with most landowners, but is taking eminent domain action against those with which it hasn’t settled.
    Nolan expressed some frustration that the authority has yet to obtain the appraisals required by law and formally make settlement offers to each property owner.
    “I’d like to see offers made more quickly than not, so we can get to the process of determining which cases require litigation,” Nolan said.
    Under eminent domain, government can take private property for the greater public good, with a judge deciding what compensation the property owner will receive.
    Two property owners who attended the hearing remain unhappy with the process and the offers the authority has made to date.
    Will Orthwein of Bloomfield Road, Greenfield, said the initial offer he received last year was only $800 for a 10-foot right-of-way along 2,910 feet of road frontage he owns.
    “That was unacceptable,” he said.
    Other property owners have been given more money, he said.
    Then, just prior to Friday’s hearing, Orthwein was informed by water authority lawyer Mark Schachner that the authority will seek only a temporary easement during construction, not a permanent easement.
    “I can’t believe they would just tell me that right now,” Orthwein said, noting he’s already hired a lawyer and his own appraiser.
    Debbie Zetterstrom of Saratoga Springs, speaking for her 83-year-old mother, said the family is less concerned about money than about how work will be done when the line crosses about 2.300 feet through their farm south of the city. The Zetterstroms have a long-standing grievance with how a county sewer line was installed 30 years ago, and the water line will be parallel.
    “The issue has always been land protection. It’s her house. It’s her home,” Debbie Zetterstrom said, speaking of her mother.
    Nolan in April granted permission for county contractors to enter all the properties, pending final condemnation. Since then, Orthwein said there’s been only surveying on his property; Zetterstrom said crews have identified trees to be removed on their land, and put up a silt-retention fence.
    Schachner said the authority has hired Alvey and Dimura of Latham to do the official appraisals. The firm is in the process of contacting landowners and arranging appointments, he said, and expects to be done within 60 days.
    Nearly half of the 28-mile pipeline has already been built. The system is supposed to be ready to start shipping water in late 2009.