JOHN COFFELTEditor

Manchester City Attorney Craig Johnson has been authorized by the Board of Mayor and Alderman to file an imminent domain suit as a last choice against four landowners reluctant to grant easements for the Hills Chapel sidewalk project.

BOMA approved the measure with a unanimous vote during its regular meeting Oct. 3.

City Attorney Craig Johnson said that he would first send the homeowners a nicely-worded letter requesting them to reconsider before beginning legal action.

“In the past when any city or municipality has utilized imminent domain it’s always been prudent to get a vote because you’re authorizing legal action against lot owners,” Johnson said.

Vice Mayor Mark Mesick, who has spearheaded the project, called this section of the sidewalk project “the most important and most needed sidewalk in the city of Manchester.”

Messick said all the other homeowners have granted easements for the project. The lot owners refusing to grant the easements were not named, but he said their reasons include a yard containing a tree planted by a grandparent and another who is said to have a hedge that would need to be cut.

“Typically in sidewalk cases, imminent domain is for the good of the entire citizenry of Manchester,” Messick said.

If the lot owners continue to decline, Johnson is authorized to file orders of condemnation. He said that statue allows for the landowners to be compensated for the portion of the land affected by the action.

Messick said the landowners who granted their easement did so voluntarily “out of the goodness of their hearts because they know their needs to be sidewalk down that road.”

Messick said the other options are to skip the yards, with pedestrian traffic likely cutting across the unpaved sections or to reroute that section onto city property crowding the road. That option would necessitate a guardrail to be added.

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.