Bellview – As the N.C. Department of Transportation’s N.C. 19/129 widening project moves forward, uncertainty remains for homeowners and business owners to be affected by the project’s right of way.
The project stands to affect several homes and businesses along the route, which runs down Blairsville Highway starting at the intersection with U.S. 64/74 and ending at the Georgia line. Right-of-way acquisition for the project has been underway for several months, with state officials being in contact with homeowners regarding their situations.
According to DOT plans, the proposed right of way for the project would affect parts of many properties, ranging from small strips of land to in some cases whole homes and other buildings.
Resident engineer Adam Dockery confirmed that the right-of-way process is still underway, adding that it would likely continue for some time. He added that about 150 properties were affected by the project.
“They’re approaching landowners and property owners and trying to acquire right of way,” Dockery said.”That’s basically the extent of it. I think it’s to be finished by the end of next year.”
Dockery said the project’s let date is scheduled for spring 2023. In construction, a let date is when bid proposals for a project are opened. He emphasized that the start of construction was likely still a long way off.
“Typically what happens is when we get all the right of way purchased, it’ll go to letting,” he said. “They put it out there for contractors to bid on it. The bids all come in. They take the lowest bidder and award it to them, and then a certain timeframe after that we start construction.”
A family’s legacy
Christy Guthrie, a local native and longtime composition manager of the Cherokee Scout, is scheduled to lose the home her family built from the ground up just south of Hedden Road, in addition to other family land. According to DOT maps, a small corner of Guthrie’s home falls into the proposed right of way for the new highway.
Her mother, who also owns property in the vicinity, is scheduled to lose a rental home and strip of land. However, she will not lose her personal home.
“They have got in the right of way about half of her front yard, and that’s not necessarily where the road would be, but what they were telling us is they are going to be doing a lot of cutting back,” Guthrie said. “They will be taking her rental property.”
Guthrie said she and other homeowners have been in contact with right-of way agents since early August, with appraisals expected by the end of October. The land involved has been in her family for at least 60 years, when her parents received it from an aunt after their marriage.
“It was built by family, for family,” Guthrie said. “My family built my home, and that was one of the last things my dad ever worked on before he passed away of cancer. It’s not just boards and drywall. It’s a lot of memories and sentimental value because of how the home was built for me.
“I mean, we all worked on it together – me, my mom, my dad and cousins. I’ve got stuff down there, plants and shrubs, that have been given to me by family and friends. They are so big now that you can’t do anything with them, and they going to be dozed down.”
Economic impact
Among the businesses being affected is Bellview Furniture, which will lose some of its property to the right of way. Co-owner Laura Baumeister said the store was still waiting word on its property appraisals. While the store itself won’t be affected, the right of way includes a large grassy area on the property.
“Nobody’s sat down to talk to us and tell us what it’s going to look like,” Baumeister said. “We have no idea. We really don’t know what’s going to happen.”
She said the plans had not affected business too much – so far.
“We’ve been so busy selling furniture that we haven’t thought about it too much,” Baumeister said. “Business is so good. We’re so blessed.”
However, despite the booming business her store was seeing, she said she was concerned about the potential effects on the store once work on the project was in full swing.
“I understand that the road needs to be straightened because it’s curvy and kind of narrow, beyond that it’s such a major road that has so much traffic, just so we can stay in business during this whole thing, it’s going to be a debacle. Everybody’s going to avoid this road or this area of the road.”
Baumeister said she hoped the state would communicate with her business sooner so she knew what to expect in the future.
Negotiating price
Guthrie said her family has been dealing with the state since 2018, when a meeting was held at the Bellview Community Center using a preliminary map. That map took more right of way than the current plan, with her mother also losing her home.
She said it could take several months before she knew what the state’s offer on her house would be, with it potentially being up to six months after the offer before she ever received the money due to legal proceedings.
“If they are relocating you, they have to give you 90 days to get out,” Guthrie said. “By law, that’s all they have to give you.”
However, she added that extensions are negotiable for a person being relocated who is building a home or having trouble finding a new place to live.
“I don’t know how many people are losing homes in this, but (the appraiser) said there were several on that stretch,” Guthrie said.
Despite the emotions involved in losing her home to the project, she hoped the project would succeed at making the well-traveled highway safer.
“Do I like it? No. Do I understand why they’re doing this? Yes,” Guthrie said.
“I know why they’re doing it. I don’t have to like it, but I understand why they’re doing it, and hopefully this whole project with what they’re taking from people in the long run could save lives. You never know.”