Imagine spending nearly six decades living in your home and creating a life for your family that you can all be proud of. Then, imagine one day local officials tell you that they are going to buy your house out from under you so that they can tear down your home to make way for a new highway exit.
That’s the reality for James Robertson, who tells ABC 33/40 about how the City of Hoover is asking him to move so that they can build a new exit for Interstate 459. The Exit 9 interchange was planned after the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) proposed it as a solution to 459’s traffic woes.
However, Robertson and his family say that they aren’t being treated fairly as ALDOT moves forward with the project, saying that a lack of transparency and a low-ball offer for the house have both left a bad taste in their mouths. Now, they’re looking for answers before they say they’ll agree to anything.
And they’re not alone—nearby neighbors are also upset about the planned exit, as well as what it will do for their prospects when it comes time to sell.
Robertson Was Offered $500,000 for His Property.
According to Kelly Robertson, part of the family’s concern is that nobody will tell them exactly why their property is needed. “James has asked for, ‘Please show me exactly why all of my property needs to be used,’ and they haven’t given him an answer,” she explained to ABC 33/40. “They never did. They just kept pushing it forward to, ‘Let’s just get him out,’ instead of coming to a meeting to have compassion and understanding that he’s been on this property for 60 years. You can’t just erase that.”
The family is also upset about the way the City of Hoover has gone about the buyout, initially offering the family just $500,000 before upping the offer to $1.2 million. Robertson’s daughter-in-law told the reporter that the offer felt like a “slap in the face.”
While the City of Hoover has secured an additional $16 million in federal funding for the project, nothing can move forward until they acquire the Robertson parcel, which is the last one needed for the project. ABC 33/40 says they expect to start looking at bids for the contract by the end of 2026.
Eminent Domain Allows Public Infrastructure to Be Built on Your Property
Unfortunately for Robertson and others in similar situations, eminent domain allows public infrastructure like utilities and roads to be built on a homeowner’s land. And while different laws depend on what is being built and where, some homeowners could unexpectedly be faced with having to sell their property in order to follow the letter of the law, according to Sever Walker Padgitt, Eminent Domain Law Attorneys.
Hopefully, Robertson gets the information he needs to feel better about making the sale, since it doesn’t seem like he will have the option not to.