North Carolina lawmakers are discussing whether to get rid of a long standing law that is causing economic problems for some residents. The current law restricts property owners from improving their land for decades if the state Department of Transportation designates it as a possible route for a future highway.

 

The legislation approved in a House committee Tuesday would repeal the state law that allows DOT to hold down the cost of buying highway land until it's ready to build. About a dozen states have similar laws that bar improving property that increases the value of land the state pays the owner.

The state Court of Appeals ruled last month the DOT had effectively taken private property along a planned route for a Forsyth County highway after publishing a corridor map nearly two decades ago. 

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