Corps meets with area landowners

Landowners along the proposed North Dakota diversion got a chance Monday to meet with a real estate specialist from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The corps held the first of two meetings with landowners that could face land acquisitions or easements if the proposed 36-mile-long diversion is built.

John Albrecht, a real estate specialist with the corps, explained the acquisition process to landowners.

The corps follows the Uniform Act, which was passed by Congress to ensure owners received "just compensation" for any land taken for public use, Albrecht said.

An appraiser chosen by the local sponsor of the project will determine the value of a property as a whole as well as include any damage the diversion has on the remaining land, he said.

Appraisers will give an initial baseline value for each property from which the owner may then begin the negotiation process, which can include a second appraisal.

Craig Evans, one of the project managers, said the corps plans to begin acquiring real estate in the spring and summer of 2011 if the $1.5 billion project is approved by Congress in December.

Land acquisition will begin at the northern end of the diversion and move south as the estimated 8½-year building process progresses.

Landowners Jeff Johnson and his uncle Marty Johnson will lose about 100 acres of their farmstead near Horace. The Johnsons are also one of six residences that the corps determined will need to be moved.

Jeff Johnson said though he supports flood mitigation, he has a number of concerns about the effectiveness of a diversion as a form of mitigation.

"You're taking out valuable farmland," Marty Johnson said. "To what? To save Fargo from a two-, three-week period."

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