‘Prized’ land in dispute

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By Barb Ickes | Thursday, March 1, 2007 12:31 AM CST | () comments

(Jeff Cook/QUAD-CITY TIMES) Joe VenHorst stands near the site of a new bridge on Middle Road near his house. A condemnation hearing will be held today to decide how he should be compensated for construction easements.

Nobody sees a home the way the owner sees it.

To Joe VenHorst, his hilly, tree-filled acreage off Middle Road in rural Bettendorf is perfect. Or it was perfect.

Now he says it’s ruined.

The 57-year-old blames officials in Bettendorf — and a system he distrusts — for taking what was pristine, isolated remains of a growing city and turning it into an overdeveloped, unnecessary thoroughfare for even more expansion.

“When they do this to people, they fail to communicate with those they infringe upon,” VenHorst said of city officials who are aiming today to win access to his land through condemnation. “When they do communicate, they lie.”

City officials, from the mayor to the city attorney to the director of public works, don’t see it that way. In fact, they say they have bent over backward for VenHorst and say that exercising their rights to eminent domain was a last resort.

What’s at stake

VenHorst and several of his family members agreed more than a year ago to sell a rental house and 8.3 acres off Middle Road near Brookview Court to the city.

The family was paid $377,000 for the land

and house.

The sizeable parcel was needed for a multi-million dollar road resurfacing and partial widening of Middle Road from about Belmont Road to 53rd Avenue. The resurfacing has been planned for years.

In fact, VenHorst said his father, James, guessed the road would one day be widened when he built the family home at 4825 Brookview Court about 45 years ago. When Joe VenHorst bought out his siblings’ share of the property after his father’s death, he waited for the roadway improvements.

“I had no idea they were going to move that road 150 feet toward my house,” he said. “When we agreed to sell the eight acres to the city, they didn’t say anything about moving Middle Road.

“They only talked about a resurfacing project. I could’ve lived with widening to four lanes — no problem.”

Public Works Director Wally Mook remembers things differently.

“He can’t say we didn’t tell him,” he said. “That’s just not true. We had to tell him what we were doing.”

Devil’s in the driveway

As the pillars and surface deck for a new bridge over Crow Creek were being built last year, VenHorst started to get a better idea of where things were going along his property’s border.

He looked at the obvious path of the new roadway and began to wonder what would become of all the trees. He wondered what would become of the current Middle Road when it came time for the city to vacate it.

And he started asking questions.

City officials had another question, too: How much would it take for VenHorst to grant them a temporary construction easement for their work on moving Brookview Court, which borders his house on the north.

Last summer the city offered him $6,350 for the easement.

But VenHorst wasn’t going to cooperate this time. First he got his own appraisal — on the city’s dime.

It came back much higher: $25,000.

“We offered him the $25,000, and he said no,” City Attorney Greg Jager said. “That’s why we’re going to condemnation.”

When asked why he thinks VenHorst refused to grant the easement, he said, “His driveway will have a greater slope.”

And that’s true.

The problem is, VenHorst said, he doesn’t know how much of a slope.

“They can’t tell me what the grade will be, where the driveway meets the road, or what any of this will look like,” VenHorst said. “They can’t tell me in writing how many of my trees they’ll take for any of this, or what the remaining small tracts of land that they plan to sign over to me will look like.

“I think you can probably get the picture of why I don’t trust them. That bridge they’ve built is like an aircraft carrier sitting in my yard, the traffic’s going to fly through here, and they can’t answer my questions.

“What they’re taking from me is priceless.”

Six people to decide

VenHorst wants to know why Mayor Mike Freemire has refused to visit his property and answer his questions. The mayor said he did visit VenHorst’s house in January and walked the property with three aldermen and the city attorney.

“Should I have called him?” Freemire asked. “Yeah. But I didn’t have the answers he wanted to hear. All we’re asking for at this point is a construction easement.

“The configuration of Middle Road isn’t the issue now. You wouldn’t build another Five Points today if you could do something else.”

Today’s condemnation hearing for VenHorst’s driveway easement should put the dispute to rest. A panel of six commissioners, including two Bettendorf property owners, two Realtors or real estate brokers and two with banking or financial backgrounds, are to begin hearing the case at 10:30 a.m.

The commission members will hear evidence from VenHorst and the city before visiting the site, hearing more testimony and, ultimately, delivering their decision.

“It won’t take long,” the city attorney predicted. “From what I understand, Mr. VenHorst is pro se (or representing himself).

“They are to report to the sheriff the same day with what they believe to be a fair price. The city then can write a check, walk away or appeal the case.”

Ven Horst is looking forward to his day in court.

“If I’m wrong on this, I sincerely apologize,” he said. “There’s some really, really good people working for the city.

“It’s the administration I have such a problem with. I don’t trust ’em.”

Barb Ickes can be contacted at (563) 383-2316 or bickes@qctimes.com.