You are a landowner. You’ve owned your property for more than a decade. You’ve never had one intention to get rid of your property (save bestowing it to your kin in your will).
Well, now the State wants to come through and slice and dice your sacred property for what it is deeming a “necessary road widening.” What do you do? What can you do? How can the Illinois Department of Transportation just come through and take what they want?
The harsh reality is that in all likelihood, IDOT has the authority to take your land for a roadway. As part of living in the State of Illinois and the United States of America, the government has always had the authority* to take land for a public purpose (and barring extreme circumstances, a roadway is almost always a “public purpose”).
*Note: If IDOT, or some other authority, wants to take your property for a non-roadway purpose, contact our attorneys immediately because there is a much better chance of stopping them.
So IDOT can take your land. Is that the end of the battle? AB-SO-LUTE-LY NOT! In fact, THIS is where the battle begins. Yes, IDOT can take your land BUT they need to pay you just compensation. It should come as no surprise to you then that there are often many discrepancies between what IDOT will offer you for your land and, well, reality.
There is more than one way to skin a cat and there is more than one way to value your land. IDOT knows that the vast majority of people on a road project will take the first offer provided to them. Through naivete, intimidation, or laziness, landowners on projects ROUTINELY accept sub-fair market value offers from IDOT for their land.
Make IDOT pay for what they are taking. Hold them ACCOUNTABLE for their overzealous land acquisition. Get what you are constitutionally entitled to as an American and Illinois citizen. Contact our eminent domain landowner attorneys at 1-888-318-3761 or visit us on the web at https://landownerattorneys.com/ TODAY FOR FREE to find out how to do this.
–Jordan Walker, Sever Storey Illinois Attorney
