BERLIN – An impasse between the town and the Adkins Company has again resulted in the closure of a portion of Harrison Avenue.
A year after it was temporarily closed to through traffic in 2015, the section of Harrison Avenue in front of the Adkins Company is again blocked off to vehicles.
Richard Holland of the Adkins Company says that if the town needs the section of road owned by the store it will have to buy it.
“I haven’t closed the road because I wanted to close the road,” he said. “I’ve closed it for a purpose. That purpose is the land is ours and we’ve not been offered an equitable price.”
Berlin Mayor Gee Williams, however, says the town shouldn’t have to buy a piece of road that’s been used by the public for decades.
“We shouldn’t have to seek eminent domain for a right of way that’s been in public use for generations,” Williams said.
Municipal officials and representatives of the Adkins Company have been in on-again, off-again communications regarding Harrison Avenue for years. While streets in Berlin are typically the responsibility of the town, the portion of Harrison Avenue in front of Adkins Company is considered part of the company’s four-acre property. According to Holland, the store has maintained the road for years. When town officials in 2015 asked the company to put up $37,500 toward the repaving of the street, however, Holland balked.
“Paving lasts 15 years at most,” he said. “Someone’s going to have to fight this fight again. Every other road in Berlin is paved by the Town of Berlin.”
It was then that Holland advised Williams to go the route of eminent domain to acquire the roadbed. Independent appraisals conducted by each party valued the piece of road at $55,000 to $60,000. Holland, however, says those figures don’t take into account damages — the fact that if the town buys the roadbed the property will be split in two. The store will also lose some of its parking area. That, he explained, is why the company has set the price for the road at $400,000.
“We’ve got a property that’s worth a certain amount as a large parcel,” Holland said. “It’s worth less when you split the parcel.”
Williams said $400,000 was an exorbitant price for the small stretch of road, which is 535 feet long and 50 feet wide.
“That roadway has been open to the public for decades,” he said, “long before the Adkins Company was even a thought.”
According to Williams, the town has been trying to avoid a confrontation in court. He says Holland’s blockade of the road now forces the town to seek a legal remedy.
“We’re hoping we can get this done in a way that reopens the road,” he said. “Our biggest concern is public safety for police, fire and emergency medical services. Our immediate goal is to get the roadway open. It’s not a matter of convenience. It’s a matter of necessity.”
Williams said that while the issue would probably end up in court he did not expect it to result in an eminent domain taking.
“We’ve advised the town attorney to go ahead and do the legal work necessary to find out what is the most logical and efficient way to get the road open and resolve this dispute. It won’t happen overnight,” the mayor said.
Holland maintains that the town should pursue eminent domain, the government right to buy property for public use. Unless it does, he says the road in front of Adkins Company will remain closed.
“We don’t intend to open the road back up until the town files eminent domain,” he said. “We’ll probably put a fence up within 30 days. To continue to argue this through the media makes no sense.”
He said the company was not willing to accept $60,000 for the property and would rather keep it.
“The town has the right to file [for eminent domain] but they do have to pay us just compensation,” he said.
Holland also pointed out that in order to improve all of Harrison Avenue, the town would need to work with other property owners, not just Adkins Company.
Williams said that was true, but that the town had a “cordial” relationship with the other parties involved and intended to approach them once the dilemma with the Adkins Company was addressed. He said the eventual goal was to straighten the southern end of Harrison Avenue so it lined up with Washington Street and to repave the road and add sidewalks.
