Lowndes County is pursuing eminent domain for a small tract near the CalStar site that a landowner will not sell at appraised value, but county attorney Tim Hudson and Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins don’t expect the matter to delay construction.
CalStar, a company that manufactures sustainable building materials, is on pace to move into its facility in April, Higgins said.
Wayne Fishback, who owns a less than a third of an acre in an area where a water and sewer line is to be installed, did not accept the offer from the LINK to purchase the property for about $7,000. That offer was based on the value of comparable land near Golden Triangle Regional Airport being worth $20,000 an acre.
Fishback and the LINK have agreed to terms before on granting easements for similar projects including Stark Aerospace, Higgins said. He added the LINK and Fishback “have a good relationship” and that Fishback has been an “advocate” for economic development in the Golden Triangle.
Hudson said the process should proceed quickly.
“The only issue at that hearing is if it’s for public use. If the court finds it’s not for public use, it’s over,” Hudson said. “If they say it is, you put up 85 percent of the court’s appraisal and then the court will give you possession of the land. Later, if the owner does not agree to the value , the value can be litigated and whatever it is is what has to be paid. Normally, it doesn’t cause a delay because these projects are things that take months.”
Higgins said he’s had to ask counties to execute eminent domain in the past, most recently with the site of the Yokohama Tire Company plant in Clay County, but also said the occurrences are uncommon.
“What that lets us do is once we go through the steps, appraisals and court rules, we can have access to that easement and run the sewer line,” Higgins said. “After the fact, the court will decide what Mr. Fishback will be entitled to on that easement. This is part of the tools of the trade. I’ve done this not a lot but enough to know it’s an option.”
Last year, the county inked a deal with the sustainable materials manufacturing company to locate in a county-owned facility near the airport. Weathers Construction, which was awarded the contract last October after submitting the lowest qualifying bid of $3,113,415, is currently turning the spec building used to lure the company to Lowndes County into the new CalStar plant.
CalStar, which is investing $8 million in the project, will create 17 local jobs when it opens and 58 in three years, according to the contract between it and the county.
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
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