Court Ruling: NC Must Pay Land-owners On Northern Beltway

The North Carolina Appeals Court says the state must pay landowners in the path of the Northern Beltway. This ruling that could force sweeping changes in how the state builds highways. 

Chief Appeals Court Judge Linda McGee, writing for the three-judge panel, said the N.C. Department of Transportation had “exercised its power of eminent domain when it filed the maps for the Northern Beltway around Winston-Salem",  and must compensate the landowners even though work on the parts of the beltway in their neighborhoods could be many years away.

According to the Winston-Salem Journal, a group of landowners filed lawsuits saying that in designating their properties as being in the path of the beltway, the state depressed their land values and limited their options to develop or sell.

Noelle Talley, speaking for the N.C. Attorney General's Office, said that state attorneys would have to review the ruling and consult with officials in the DOT before deciding on a response. The lawyer for the landowners said it's possible that the state could appeal the ruling to the N.C. Supreme Court.