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The Vermont Statutes Online



Title

10

:
Conservation and Development






Chapter

039

:
WATERSHED PROTECTION AND FLOOD PREVENTION











 

§

958. Eminent domain; determining necessity

(a) The

Commissioner of Environmental Conservation may file a complaint in the Civil

Division of the Superior Court for any county in which a portion of the real

estate lies to determine that necessity requires that the State acquire real

estate within the State, including real estate held for public use in the name

of the State or any municipality, for the purpose of flood control projects.

(b)

"Necessity" means a reasonable need which considers the greatest

public good and the least inconvenience and expense to the condemning party and

to the property owner. It shall not be measured merely by expense or

convenience to the condemning party. Due consideration shall be given to the

following factors:

(1) The adequacy

of other property and locations.

(2) The

quantity, kind, and extent of cultivated and agricultural land which may be

made unfit for use by the proposed taking. In this connection, the effect on

long-range agricultural land use as well as the immediate effect shall be

considered.

(3) The effect

of the taking upon home and homestead rights and the convenience of the owner

of the land.

(4) The effect

of the taking upon scenic and recreational values in the areas involved.

(5) The effect

upon town grand lists and revenues.

(6) The effect

upon fish and wildlife, forests and forest programs, the natural flow of water

and the streams both above and below any proposed structure, upon hazards to

navigation, fishing and bathing, and upon other public uses.

(7) Whether the

cutting clean and removal of all timber and tree growth from all or any part of

any flowage area involved is reasonably required.

(c) The

complaint, the service thereof and the proceedings in relation thereto,

including rights of appeal, shall conform with and be controlled by 19 V.S.A.

chapter 5. (Added 1966, No. 27 (Sp. Sess.), § 4, eff. March 12, 1966; amended

1981, No. 222 (Adj. Sess.), § 20; 1987, No. 76, § 18; 2009, No. 154 (Adj.

Sess.), § 236; 2011, No. 126 (Adj. Sess.), § 6.)