The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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July 12, 2012

Blue Earth County jury decides eminent domain case

By Dan Linehan Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO —  Farmers whose land was taken for a Blue Earth County highway project will receive $137,175, the amount offered by the county two years ago, a jury decided Tuesday.

On March 24, 2010, the county took possession of 15.5 acres of land owned by Mathew and Anne Kruse. The land was used for an extension of County Road 12, also known as the airport road.

Since then, the Kruses and the county have been fighting in court as to the value of that land.

County Attorney Ross Arneson said the county’s appraiser, longtime Realtor Owen Viker, established a value of $137,175 in 2010.

The Kruses appealed. A court-appointed panel of land experts had a trial and came up with a higher value for the land, $195,500, Arneson said.

That figure was both too low for the Kruses and too high for the county, Arneson said. Both parties appealed.

The task of setting a property value fell to a jury this week, which heard evidence Monday and Tuesday and came to its verdict Tuesday evening.

Arneson said the Kruses did not have an attorney at the trial and did not call witnesses besides themselves.

The Kruses did not return a call seeking comment Thursday. Their home was not included in the land taking.

The Kruse land was the only parcel for the County Road 12 extension the county was unable to acquire from its owners voluntarily.

And it’s the first jury trial of its type since 1997, Arneson said, when the county was building County Road 90, also called the south route.

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