ITC, through its subsidiary, Michigan Electric Transmission Company, LLC ("METC"), has submitted good faith offers as a prerequisite to filing condemnation lawsuits in the Oshtemo Weeds Lake project.
As a prerequisite to filing a condemnation lawsuit, a condemning authority must serve good faith offers to affected property owners. I represent the largest group of property owners who continue to oppose this project. All were served with good faith offers last week that expire on May 8. Once the good faith offers expire, ITC will likely begin initiating lawsuits against property owners to acquire property rights via eminent domain.
A good faith offer identifies the property rights that ITC seeks to impose. Most notably, ITC is imposing easements that include the right to clear cut 220 swaths of property. The easements also prohibit any construction within that 220-foot swath, including fences.
The good faith offer also identifies the just compensation that ITC is offering to pay. ITC has based its good faith offers upon appraisals that were included in the offer packages. Upon initial review, these appraisals frequently disregard important just compensation issues and offer insufficient just compensation.
I anticipate being in court shortly with these cases.
If you have received a good faith offer and have not retained an attorney in this project or are facing eminent domain issues in other contexts, please do not hesitate to contact me.