Homeowner Fights Colleyville Land Grab

A Colleyville homeowner is fighting the city over eminent domain.

The city wants part of his driveway and front yard to build a roundabout at the intersection.

"I just feel that it's unfair, and that it's frustrating," said Edward Mitchell, who has owned his home on Pleasant Run and John McCain roads since November 2010.

Mitchell said he wants just less than $168,000 for the land and thinks the city's offer of about $90,000 is too little.

The city's attorney said in a statement that its offer is a fair price and should have been enough to get the land.

"The city says they are compensating me accordingly to accommodate that, but that is not true, not true," Mitchell said.

He said he doesn't like the way the situation has been handled.

The city says negotiations have been ongoing for a year, but Mitchell said the first of the city's two offers -- about $73,000 -- came in January 2011. In November, the city put plans in motion to take his property through eminent domain, he said.

A second offer of about $90,000 came in January.

"It is unfair the way they are handling this whole situation," Mitchell said.

On Wednesday, the matter heads to court, when three commissioners will decide how much Mitchell should be paid.

Their decision is binding.

Mitchell said he hopes to get more money than the city is offering.

"It's no need for them to enact eminent domain on me, and I told my fellow neighbors and residents that if they can do this to me, then they can do it to you," Mitchell said.

Mitchell's land is the last piece of property Colleyville needs to start work on the roundabout.