Water board to pursue condemnation of disputed land

After five months of attempts to acquire a Clovis property, the Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority agreed to pursue condemnation of the land at its Thursday morning meeting at the Memorial Building in Portales.

The proposed site for the 85-foot easement is located north of a tank owned by water utility company EPCOR Water, and would be home to an intersection between the authority’s interim pipeline project and EPCOR Water’s system, according to ENMWUA’s contracted attorney David Richards.

Staff and administration with ENMWUA had been working with property owner Phillip Chavez since October 2016, and had not been able to reach a resolution, said Richards, adding that the appraised value of the property was $8,350.

“We sat down, discussed a broad range of alternatives and possibilities. The property owners have refused to accept any plan or alternative,” he said.

Board member Chris Bryant asked Richards about the timeline of condemnation, to which he replied there would be a court hearing to determine if the authority can receive immediate possession of the property.

He added that even if the board moved forward with condemnation, the issue could still be resolved with Chavez at any time, “but the efforts to try and resolve through discussion and negotiation are essentially at an impasse, and after five months there just isn’t any progress, and no real potential for progress.”

If condemnation of the property takes place, he said, Chavez would still receive the appraised property value.

When asked by board member Jim Lucero what objections the property owner had to the easement, Richards said his position was the authority should use the right of way down the street.

“The problem with that, and the reason, from a broader perspective, that the authority doesn’t use the rights of way, is that a utility in a public right of way is subject to the direction and order of that government authority,” he said. “If the city said, ‘Well, we’re doing a street project, you need to move that,’ or ‘We’ve got a sewer line and you need to move it,’ then the authority could be required to expend a lot of money to move that pipeline.”

Chavez could not be reached for comment.