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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.)