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Halifax County Supervisors have received notice that the U.S.
Supreme
Court has denied the appeal filed by D. Epps Lacy in the case of
King
Village Trail. County Attorney Russell Slayton told board members in
a
memorandum dated April 11, 2007 that the Clerk of the U.S. Supreme
Court had advised that the Lacys' Petition for Writ of Certiorari
has
been denied. "All of their appeal rights have now been exhausted,
and the Order
entered by Judge Alexander of April 24, 2006 is now final," Slayton
advised Board members. Slayton continued in his memorandum, "The new
road will be constructed by VDOT forces, using VDOT funds and will be
accepted into the Virginia system of secondary highways. The new road will
unequivocally be a 'public' road, as has been determined by Circuit Court
rulings, and
confirmed by actions of the Virginia Supreme Court and the U.S.
Supreme
Court."Slayton told Board members that he had been advised that the
firm of
Waldo & Lyle (of which the Lacys' attorney was a member) had
actively
attempted to change the eminent domain law of Virginia and that the
Halifax/Lacy case was cited as evidence of the inequities of current
law and had been cited in a recent editorial in the Richmond Times
Dispatch written by Jeremy Hopkins. But he notes that Mr. Hopkins
mischaracterizes the new road as a "private driveway to serve an
individual.""His statement is inconsistent with findings of fact and
law of three
separate Courts," Slayton wrote, noting that Judge Alexander was
appointed by the Virginia Supreme Court because of his expertise and
acuity in this area of the law, and he did not rule for the
landowners
on even one of the many motions they filed throughout the trial.
"Judge Alexander decided the case in favor of the County, the
Virginia
Supreme Court dismissed the Lacy's appeal at the Writ Panel level,
and
the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Lacys' Petition without comment,"
Slayton wrote.Denial by the U.S. Supreme Court ends a long running
struggle by residents of the community who for some 20 years have tried to
get a
state maintained roadway to replace the nearly mile long narrow,
winding and gutted trail that leads to the homes of some 35
residents.
After years of trying to upgrade the road and being turned down
earlier
by the County’s governing body, residents once again turned to
County
Supervisors for help during the summer of 2002, almost five years
ago.
“I am so pleased that it’s finally over. It’s unfortunate that it
has
dragged on for such a long time and been costly for county
taxpayers,”
said William Fitzgerald, chairman of the Board of Supervisors. But
examining the roadway himself, Fitzgerald said he was confident that
it constituted a public need. “We also had a lot of citizens around
the
County who supported our efforts in getting this done,” Fitzgerald
said.Resident Highway Administrator Joe Barkley said yesterday that
he does
not know the exact schedule for starting work on the roadway. The
money
for the project has been held in escrow for some time, Barkley said,
but there are still more steps in the process before actual
construction can begin.“I will work with the Supervisors to bring
this project to closure as soon as it is possible,” said Barkley, noting
that he is anxious to get
on with the work.