"When you wrap up the eminent domain process, the burden of proof and the burden of debt is on the people taking the land."īut the city refused to discuss the particulars of why it needs the property, why it can’t meet the Bunch’s price, why it rejected Bunch’s land swap offer or why some of its meeting notes point to an effort to keep the issue out of the public eye before the 2015 elections. "You have your attorneys, their attorney fees," Burch said. So they had already spent tens of thousands of dollars and they’re asking me if I want to sell,” Bunch said.Ĭouncilman Jim Burch said he wants to make sure the acquisitions department exhausted all options before going through the eminent domain process because of the high cost Florida statutes place on the eminent domain process. “While they were asking me if I wanted to sell the property they had already had the intention of taking it. Engineering drawings of the Bunch property from 2014 show several tanks slated for construction on the property. On April 11, the Cape Coral City Council voted 8-0 to acquire the property. “Why would I want to lose my location for less than the property’s worth right now, let alone 10, 15 years from now,” Bunch said. “So I know I will get a better price if I’ve got property at 9 or 10 feet.”īut what will really up the price, Bunch said, is the fact that Wal-Mart owns 23.65 acres just down the road, which could become a Wal-Mart serving the northwest and southwest portions of Cape Coral. You want to build a house, you’re going to spend $20,000 or $30,000 just in dirt,” Bunch said. “Elevation is everything here because we’re so low. The tree clippings then decompose into dirt and help elevate the property. ![]() Getting rid of the stuff is the problem,” Bunch said. In tree service, getting rid of the material is the whole ball of wax. The 5 acres Cape Coral has targeted is used by Bunch’s company, Acorn Tree Service, to dispose of tree waste instead of taking it to the disposal dump. ![]() So if the city absolutely needs my property and can’t use any of the others around me, then they can buy property they can’t use and swap with me or give me a check where I can go buy what I already have,” Bunch said. “It’s not a dollar amount, I want enough money to go buy what I already have. The city has, through numerous phone calls, upped its price to $330,000, which is still far below what Bunch believes the property to be worth. First reached by representatives of the city in 2014, Bunch said the initial offer for $190,000 was a nonstarter. The Florida Constitution requires that “full compensation” be paid for property taken under eminent domain.īut Bunch says the city’s offers have gone from laughable to well below market value. For them to take it, it’s going to be expensive because I’m going to go to court.”Įminent domain is the process where a government can take private property for a public purpose. "There’s 20 properties around me, why are you trying to take mine,” Bunch said in an interview. Jeff Bunch, owner of Acorn Tree Service, said Cape Coral has put a freeze on 5 acres of his property near Pine Island Road and Chiquita Boulevard with the intent of seizing it under eminent domain. ![]() ,, Repairizze.A Cape Coral family says the city is taking away its future to make room for an irrigation tank in the city’s utility expansion project.
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