A governing body (RTC) taking private property without any financial compensation to the property owner. 

In 2019, RTC notified the property owner of 961 & 999 South Virginia Street in Midtown, of the acquisition of two temporary construction easements through eminent domain for the Virginia Street Bus Rapid Transit Extension Project. A driveway providing access to the parcel at 999 Virginia Street was eliminated and never returned during construction. 

The taking clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution says, “nor shall private property be taken [by the government] for public use without just compensation to the property owner.” 

RTC maintains, “It was not necessary to obtain an easement or exercise eminent domain to eliminate the driveway because the entrance to the driveway was already in the public-right- of-way and the owners had no ownership interest in it.” 

This position has caused unnecessary litigation, confusion for the appraiser, and obvious violation in taking private property by a government agency (RTC) without compensation. RTC feels since they have the public-right-of-way they can take -at will- private property without just compensation. 

Imagine if this were true what legal entanglements would ensue between government and private land owners. 

In an earlier Nevada Supreme Court case that set the precedent for these types of actions (Dept. Of Highways V. Linnecke, 86 Nev. 468 P. 2d 8 (1970) it recognized the right to obtain severance damages for harmful changes to one’s access to the public highway. The court noted that the “property right essentially damaged its respondent’s easement of access from his property to the abutting highway and to the free and con- tinuous use thereof.” The right of ingress and egress attaches to the lot and is a right of property as the lot itself rather than a mere interest possessed by the public in general in the use of public roads. 

“An act of municipality for the benefit of the public that substantially impairs such easement is damage to the lot itself within the meaning of the State Constitution.” 

Is it okay for the RTC to violate the constitution and take private property without compensation? 

In summary, the RTC rented a driveway from a private property owner and never returned the driveway to its original state, nor did they compensate the owner for taking it, they didn’t even give him a hug!