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Eminent Domain is alive & frustrating... in Sacramento County

The Ongoing 3 Year Saga of Narda & Keith Weber of Rio Linda...and how the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District is Stealing Their Private Property!

Are you next?

The long, sad story...

Narda & Keith own roughly an acre of land next to their home along Elkhorn Boulevard.



The view from across Elkhorn Boulevard toward the Weber's property. Keith (6 feet tall) is standing at street level. The huge vegetation wall can clearly be seen with 50 foot tall redwoods behind the oleanders


In January of 2003, they were notified by mail that their property stood in the way of a major sewer project running along Elkhorn Boulevard. In charge of the project is the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (SRCSD), which provides sewage handling for Sacramento and neighboring counties & cities. They were informed that the SRCSD needed 35 feet by almost 400 feet of the edge of their property as a permanent easement. They would also need an additional 15 feet by that same length as a temporary construction easement. They were also told that everything in that easement would need to be removed for the project.

That area of their property included 20 mature trees, some over 50 feet tall. It also included over 50 mature Oleander Shrubs, many over 15 feet tall and almost that wide. All of the plants and trees were over a decade and a half old They were planted as a barrier from wind and heat and noise and as a visual and litter deterrent from Elkhorn Boulevard traffic.

An appraiser was dispatched to assess the value of the property to be taken. The SRCSD then made a pitiful offer which did not begin to cover the “"just compensation"” of the property to be taken.

From that time until now, the pitiful offer has not changed much, but the SRCSD has played every procedural game under the sun to avoid paying for the damage they have caused and for a proper just compensation for the property taken.

It is difficult for an ordinary person to understand the "“theft by law"” that takes place with this process. And it puzzles Narda and Keith and probably puzzles the average ordinary person as to how such a thing can happen in the United States of America. But, indeed, that appears to be exactly what is happening.

Both the United States Constitution and the California State Constitution are clear in identifying that the process of Eminent Domain can be executed... and it also makes clear that the property taken or destroyed should be “"justly compensated".” This is where a problem enters into the equation. The SRCSD as well as municipalities operate under a double standard of compensation.

Property belonging to a government agency is valued by the courts as a far higher value when it belongs to that agency than it is when valued by the government agency when they must pay a private citizen for that same property.

No more than 8 years ago a court case in Yolo County where the California Department of Transportation sued a private business (a billboard installer) for cutting down a section of oleander bushes which were obscurring the view of his billboard. CALTRANS won the case and the private businessman was forced to pay over $100,000 to the state for the damage. SRCSD has ignored this valuation and the many other valuations submitted by the Webers and have offered a pittance. They have a cadre of lawyers (over 50 at last count on their side). The Webers cannot afford to pay even one. Yet the procedural process continues.

The SRCSD has sued the Webers for access to their land. They have completed their project. They have destroyed major portions of the private property. They have hired expensive "expert" witnesses to place values on the property that are a small fraction of what a common private citizen would have to pay in the ordinary marketplace to replace that same property. They have also taken away the peace of mind of the Webers that they might have ever had of a fair and just settlement.

All of the mature oleanders have been chopped to the ground. Several of the mature trees have already died during the process of occupation by the contractors working for SRCSD. The contractors failed to water any of the plants and trees during a blistering hot summer during the construction.

The only way to adequately describe the extent of the damage is through photographs. (Unfortunately, The print edition of The NEWS is limited to black & white photos.)

Narda & Keith are organic gardeners with generally over an acre under cultivation. There was no garden at all last year, and it will take many years to rebuild the soil and the lush vegetation which was destroyed. Years are tough to come by when you already have six decades under your belt.

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