Oakland County Road Commission Initiates Dequindre Road Takings

Oakland County is widening Dequindre from Auburn to Hamlin Roads, requiring eminent domain to acquire necessary rights.

The Oakland County Road Commission is widening Dequindre Road from Auburn to Hamlin Roads. The road widening project requires property rights that are pushing road right-of-ways deeper inside of lots for residential homes, many of which are already very close to the road.

Based upon my recent experience, the Oakland County Road Commission is not obtaining real estate appraisals when issuing good faith offers. Rather, they are obtaining estimates of the fee value of the underlying land being acquired as a right of way and simply multiplying that number by the number of square feet being acquired. Therefore, the Road Commission is not considering whether their takings create any damage to the remainder. 

The damage to the remainder impacts can be fairly significant. For example, in one case where I pointed out that the taking renders a home nonconforming with the front yard setback requirements in Rochester Hills, the Road Commission later obtained an appraisal report. That appraisal resulted in the Road Commission’s offer being increased by 725%.

These matters are pending in Oakland County Circuit Court.

Please feel free to contact me if you have been approached about providing right of way to facilitate a road widening.