Van Horn v. City of Kansas City

819 P.2d 624, 249 Kan. 404, 1991 Kan. LEXIS 162
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedOctober 25, 1991
DocketNo. 65,322
StatusPublished

This text of 819 P.2d 624 (Van Horn v. City of Kansas City) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Van Horn v. City of Kansas City, 819 P.2d 624, 249 Kan. 404, 1991 Kan. LEXIS 162 (kan 1991).

Opinion

[405]*405The opinion of the court was delivered by

Abbott, J.:

The City of Kansas City, Kansas, (the City) appeals from a jury award ($9,000) to James and Rosalie Van Horn in an eminent domain proceeding. Our jurisdiction arises from K.S.A. 26-504, which allows direct appeals to the Supreme Court from any final order in an eminent domain proceeding.

The City’s appeal in this case involves testimony concerning 99th Street becoming a 4-lane road and the effect this testimony has on the value of the remainder.

The Van Horns own and reside at 2214 North 99th Street in Kansas City, Kansas. Their lot is 100 feet wide by 263 feet deep and is located on the west side of 99th Street between Parallel Parkway and Leavenworth Road. The 100-foot width fronts 99th Street.

Prior to the taking, the right-of-way for 99th Street was 60 feet wide, extending 30 feet east and west of the centerline. In this case, the City took a permanent 10-foot right-of-way easement along the front of the Van Horns’ property. The City also took an additional 15-foot temporary construction easement next to the 10-foot permanent right-of-way easement. This appeal concerns only the permanent easement.

Prior to this action, 99th Street was a 2-lane asphalt roadway without curbs. The area was not serviced by a sewer system. The only construction in front of the Van Horns’ house consisted of installing a sewer line within the 10-foot permanent easement.

Most of the road work undertaken as a part of the construction project commenced immediately after the taking took place on 98th and 99th Streets. The road work occurred south of the Van Homs’ property, primarily between State Avenue and Parallel Parkway. Road improvements to 99th Street were undertaken north of Parallel Parkway in the immediate vicinity of the 99th Street/Parallel Parkway intersection. The road work ceased several hundred feet to the south of the Van Horns’ property, and no actual road improvements were to be undertaken immediately on 99th Street in front of and surrounding the Van Homs’ property at this time.

The first through streets east of Interstate 435 are 98th and 99th Streets between State Avenue and Leavenworth Road. The [406]*406City’s Master Road Plan, dating back to at least 1984, projects this portion of 98th and 99th Streets eventually to be improved to a 4-lane roadway.

The Van Horns appealed the City’s award of $700. Prior to trial, the City filed a motion in limine to prevent the Van Horns’ experts from including proposed road improvements in their testimony. The City argued that because no road construction definitely was planned, the Van Horns should not be compensated for any potential future change in road width. The trial court denied the motion.

At trial, the city engineer testified that he believed 99th Street eventually will be improved to some type of 4-lane roadway, but he was unable to say when. If 99th Street is widened to a 4-lane roadway, additional land would have to be condemned. A Class “C” thoroughfare requires an 80-foot right of way — an additional 10 feet could be acquired on the east side of 99th Street (the other side of the street).

During trial, the Van Horns elicited testimony from the appraisers that threat of future expansion would affect the value of the property because potential buyers would not want to live on a 4-lane street. The jury awarded the Van Horns a total of $9,000. This appeal followed.

The City bases its argument on the following language from a recent case, Hudson v. City of Shawnee, 246 Kan. 395, 790 P.2d 933 (1990): “The general rule is that enhancement or depressing of value due to anticipated improvements by the project for which condemnation is sought is excluded in determining fair market value.” 246 Kan. at 406, citing 4,Nichols on Eminent Domain § 12.3151 (3d ed. rev. 1985).

This court has considered the impact of the improvement on the remainder of the landowners’ interest without any discussion of the rule suggested by the City in numerous cases. For a recent example, see Ryan v. Kansas Power & Light Co., 249. Kan. 1, 815 P.2d 528 (1991).

Generally, the rule discussed in Hudson applies if an entire piece of property is taken and then only to the value of the property before the taking. This rule prevents consideration of any increase or decrease in value resulting from the announce[407]*407ment of a project that will affect the property actually taken. Nichols explains:

“It rarely happens that proceedings for the condemnation of and for public use are instituted without months, years, and in some instances, decades of time spent in preliminary discussion and in the making of tentative plans. These discussions and plans are usually known to owners and other persons interested in land in the vicinity of the proposed improvement, and are matters of common talk in the neighborhood. . . .
“The general rule is that any enhancement in value that is brought about in anticipation of, and by reason of, a proposed improvement, is to be excluded in determining the market value of the land.” 4 Nichols on Eminent Domain § 12 B.I7 [1] (3d ed. rev. 1990).

Nichols adds:

“If the exact location of the improvement is known from the outset, the property that will serve as the site of the improvement will not be subject to any rise or fall in values. This is so because the property is bound to be taken if the improvement is in fact constructed, and, therefore, it can neither suffer from, nor enjoy, the effects of the existence of the improvement in its neighborhood. Consequently, it is well settled that in such cases the effect of the proposed improvement upon the neighborhood must be ignored in valuing the land.” 4 Nichols, § 12 B.17 [2].

Nichols refers only to the value of the property before the taking. In Kansas, the measure of damages for taking an entire tract is “the value of the property or interest at the time of the taking.” K.S.A. 26-513(b). Suppose that an entire tract of land is to be taken for a roadway. The market price of the land is based on what a landowner can expect to derive from the land. If there is a roadway on the land, a landowner could find no productive use for the property and no one would pay anything for it. The value of this land, then, would be zero. Without the Hudson rule, the public agency taking the land could argue the land’s value is zero because of the announcement of the taking; therefore, the public agency would not have to pay for the land.

A partial taking.is different. K.S.A. 26-513(c) provides:

“If only a part of a tract of land or interest is taken, the compensation and measure of damages are the difference between the value of the entire property or interest immediately before the taking, and the value of that portion of the tract or interest remaining immediately after the taking.”

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Related

United States v. Miller
317 U.S. 369 (Supreme Court, 1943)
Ryan v. Kansas Power & Light Co.
815 P.2d 528 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1991)
Hoy v. Kansas Turnpike Authority
334 P.2d 315 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1959)
Hudson v. City of Shawnee
790 P.2d 933 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1990)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
819 P.2d 624, 249 Kan. 404, 1991 Kan. LEXIS 162, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/van-horn-v-city-of-kansas-city-kan-1991.