Did the state use eminent domain following Helene?

NASHVILLE — The phrase "eminent domain" made ripples throughout Northeast Tennessee during the weeks following Helene.The phrase refers to the government's power to seize property from private landowners — even against their wishes — as long as the property is seized for a "public use" and its owner is provided fair compensation.It's a frightening possibility, said state Rep. Renea Jones, R-Unicoi, a self-described proponent of property rights. And it frightened many who lived along major highways in the region, who in late October saw their names listed in public notices stating the state "seeks to acquire [their] land."Jones clarified that the state was only issuing construction easements. The voluntary contracts allowed the Tennessee Department of Transportation access to private land in order for road repairs to get underway.Property owners were compensated for the temporary use of their land, which extended only 100 feet in both directions from the centerline of the highway.Typically, these easements are acquired through a right-of-way process, which under normal circumstances, can take years. Jones said there wasn't time for that."You had done it the proper way, that river road wouldn't be open today," she said.However, many residents did not receive these easements for a number of reasons — either they did not see the public notice; or the mail service could not reach their homes due to the damaged roads; or, their mailboxes had been washed away.For those cases, totaling at least 45 along state Route 81/107, an emergency order of possession was filed legally allowing the state temporary access to certain areas of land along the highways without requiring approval from their owners — approval that the state could not wait to receive.So, was eminent domain used by the state during Helene? The short answer is yes, but with a caveat.The emergency order issued to residents who did not sign the construction easements is part of the state's broader power of eminent domain. However, the order does use the state's full extent of its power. It did not repossess property; it only allowed road construction crews temporary access to the land.So, while the order was technically couched within a broader power of eminent domain, there were no properties that were permanently transferred from private to state control."You have to use that code when you do something like this, because that's just the way legal jargon works," Jones said. "The only thing that was utilized was construction easements on both the river road project and the road project in Unicoi."Residents subject to the emergency order of possession were still compensated, just as they would have been had they been able to or chose to sign the easements.Whether the state had used its power of eminent domain was the topic of a December 2024 meeting between TDOT, local officials and Johnson County residents living along U.S. 421."We are not widening the road, not taking your home, we don't want your property," were the first words out of the mouth of TDOT's Director and Assistant Chief Engineer of Region 1 Steve Borden.Jones said she was wary of the word herself when she first heard it. But she soon understood it was necessary — without roads, supplies could not be delivered to certain places, and the transportation of everything in the area slows down as more cars are crammed into detour routes."For this situation, I think it might have been the only way to handle it, to be able to get those roads built back as quick as we did," said Jones.