WEST virginia legislature
2020 regular session
Introduced
Senate Bill 734
By Senator Clements
[Introduced February 7,
2020; referred
to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure]
A BILL to amend and reenact §17-2A-17 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to clarifying the powers and duties of the Division of Highways in acquiring property for state road purposes to include depth as well as width; and updating antiquated language.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 2A. WEST VIRGINIA COMMISSIONER OF HIGHWAYS.
§17-2A-17. Acquisition of property for state road purposes; “state road purposes” defined.
In addition to all other
powers given and assigned to the commissioner in this chapter, the commissioner
may acquire, either temporarily or permanently, in the name of the state
road commission Division of Highways all real or personal property,
public or private, or any interests or rights therein, including any easement,
riparian right, or right of access, deemed by the commissioner to be necessary
for present or presently foreseeable future state road purposes by gift, lease,
grant, bequest, devise, agreement, purchase, exchange, right of eminent domain,
or other lawful means. Such real Real property may be acquired in
fee simple or in any lesser estate or interest therein, except in the case of a
public road, only the right-of-way only shall be acquired.
Acquisition of such personal property shall be subject to the provisions of §17-2A-13
and §17-2A-15 of this code. The acquisition of any and all such real and
personal property is hereby declared to be a cost of highway construction.
Nothing in this section shall be deemed to restrict or relinquish restricts
or relinquishes any right the state or any agency thereof now or hereafter
possesses or may exercise by virtue of the police power or other lawful
authority.
As used in this article, “state road purposes” shall include provision for, but shall not be limited to, the following:
(a) Constructing, establishing, laying out, widening, enlarging, extending, straightening, reconstructing, relocating, grading, altering, improving, and maintaining state roads;
(b) Rights-of-way for state
roads, including those needed for such roads within municipalities, such
rights-of-way to be as wide to such width and depth as deemed
necessary for the project by the commissioner and shall include all
material therein;
(c) Adequate drainage of state roads;
(d) Controlled-access facilities, as defined in §17-4-39 of this code, including existing and vested rights of access, air, view and light, whether privately or publicly owned, and local service roads to controlled-access facilities;
(e) Broadcasting stations, weighing stations, shops, equipment sheds, office buildings, storage buildings and yards, snow fences, road maintenance or construction sites;
(f) Road-building material storage sites, quarry sites, gravel pits, sites for the acquisition or manufacture of road-building materials including borrow pits, stockpile sites, waste-material sites and access roads to any such sites or places;
(g) The culture and support of trees which benefit any state road by aiding in the maintenance and preservation of the road;
(h) Landscape and roadside development, and maintenance thereof, within any state road right-of-way, and the acquisition and maintenance of lands and interests in lands for the restoration, preservation and enhancement of places of scenic beauty, and other objects of attraction or scenic value adjacent to or near any state road, and the acquisition, development and maintenance of publicly owned and controlled rest and recreation areas and sanitary and other facilities reasonably necessary for the accommodation of the traveling public, within, adjacent to or near the right-of-way of any road within the state road system;
(i) Development and maintenance of parking places, auto camps, camp sites, roadside parks, historic roadside markers and sites, forest or timbered areas or other places of attraction and scenic value which are adjacent to or near any state road and which in the judgment of the commissioner are necessary for the convenience of the public and will contribute to the general welfare and pleasure of the motoring public or road users;
(j) Maintenance of an unobstructed view of any portion of any state road in order to provide for the safety of the traveling public;
(k) Erection and maintenance of markers, warning signs and traffic signals;
(l) Construction and maintenance on state roads of sidewalks and highway illumination;
(m) Elimination or prevention of hazardous or undesirable points of entry to state roads from adjacent property;
(n) Acquisition of
property, or any interest or right therein, for the purpose of exchanging it
for other property, or any interest or right therein, which the commission
Division of Highways is authorized to acquire by the other provisions of
this section: Provided, That such substitute property, or any interest
or right therein, may be acquired by the commissioner by condemnation only if
the following conditions are satisfied: (1) Money Monetary compensation
would be substantially inadequate for the property, or interest or right
therein, which the commissioner is authorized to acquire by the other
provisions of this section, and (2) the commission Division of
Highways has entered into a written agreement to exchange the substitute
property, or the right or interest therein, for the property, or right or
interest therein, which is needed for state road purposes, regardless of
whether the person who has agreed to accept the exchange has the right to
condemn the substitute property, or the right or interest therein;
(o) Acquisition of real
property, not needed as such for a state road, for the purpose of moving
and relocating thereon a building or other structure or appurtenance which is
situated on a lot or tract of land all or a portion of which is needed for a
state road and which, after relocation, will be suitable for the purpose for
which it was used prior to its being relocated: Provided, however,
That such additional real property may be acquired by the commissioner by
condemnation only if the following conditions are satisfied: (1) The building
or other structure or appurtenance is of substantial value, (2) the real
property on which it is to be relocated is not substantially improved and is adjacent
to or near the location from which it is to be removed, (3) the owner of the
real property needed for the state road has entered into a written agreement
with the commission Division of Highways to accept in exchange
the additional property with the relocated building or structure or
appurtenance thereon, (4) substantial savings in expenditure of state road
funds will result from condemning the additional property and relocating the
building or structure or appurtenance rather than condemning the lot or tract,
or the portion thereof, on which the building or other structure or
appurtenance may be located, and (5) the real property with the relocated
building or structure or appurtenance thereon will be relatively equal in value
to the real property needed for the state road.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to clarify the powers and duties of the Division of Highways in acquiring property for state road purposes including depth and to update antiquated language. A prior Legislature created a hybrid real estate ownership because DOH is not allowed to acquire property in fee. This bill clarifies that the DOH takes what is necessary for road construction, repair and maintenance. Historically, DOH has cut through mountains and used the cut material for fill. The bill states that the Commissioner takes a sufficient area in width and depth to construct a road. This should allow DOH to continue using fill material taken from one area of the project and use it in another. This does not include coal, oil or gas deposits.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.