Arlington County offered to buy a
property in a historically Black community, but since the family refuses
to accept, a resolution will trigger eminent domain.
A Maryland woman is preparing to challenge Arlington County in court in order to prevent officials from acquiring property that has belonged to her family for decades. But county officials say they have the right to take the property in order to build safety improvements to nearby roads.
Sandra Fortson was offered $627,000 by Arlington County to purchase land at 1802 Columbia Pike in the Arlington View community. Fortson is the guardian of the homeowner, her cousin Karen Newman, who is currently at a nursing home after she suffered a medical emergency in 2021.
In a March meeting, the county staff told supervisors that acquiring the land would make way for much-needed traffic and pedestrian safety improvements at Rolfe Street and Columbia Pike, which includes adding a traffic light and realigning the road into a four-leg intersection.
The county recommended the board adopt a resolution that would allow Fortson to accept the offer on the property. If the offer is denied, the resolution would authorize the county attorney to take the property by eminent domain.
Maxine Cholmondeley, a real estate specialist with the Arlington County government, said conversations with Fortson began in late 2022 but discussions “have not been successful.”
Fortson is refusing to sell the house, built in the 1920s, because it’s important to her to keep it within the family.
“I’m tired and I’m frustrated, and I just want this to be over,” Fortson said. “I think it’s very important the fact that this house has been in the family somewhere between 70 and 80 years. My aunt was adamant about keeping that home in the family, and it’s also generational wealth. We know a lot of African Americans have lost generational wealth because their property has been taken away.”
Fortson argued staff members failed to tell supervisors that she intended to renovate the home so she could bring back her cousin from a nursing home with a caregiver. She has already spent up to $80,000 on renovations within the last few weeks.
She pushed back on Cholmondeley's statement in the board meeting when she said, “the house is currently not in habitable condition.”
“The interior, the walls are in very poor condition, there’s no working bathroom, there’s no working kitchen,” Cholmondeley told supervisors. “It’s basically a gut rehab, you’d have to take it down to the studs.”
Earlier this month, Arlington County Attorney MinChau Corr sent a Notice of Intent to File Certificate of Take, meaning they plan to transfer the lease to the county in June.
“I have dedicated myself to fighting this until it’s over,” Fortson said.
Attorney fights for alternate option
Fortson was open to discussing granting an easement on her property instead.
Original plans show acquiring a piece of the land instead of the whole property. That has since changed.
Fortson’s eminent domain attorney Michael Coughlin said if the county pursues the plan, they’ll take them to court.
“Our point is that the purpose of the Columbia Pike improvements can be fulfilled while retaining ownership of this property in the family which they’ve owned for generations,” Coughlin said. “It’s not necessary to acquire the entire property to accomplish their goals.”
The proposed project is part of one section of a larger initiative to improve roads and sidewalks along Columbia Pike in the county. Staff said if approved, the safety changes would improve access for the adjacent neighborhoods and provide safer connectivity for people walking and biking.
“If we continue to consider these options, then we will miss the window of making a design change and construction change without affecting the schedule,” Transportation Engineering and Operations Bureau Chief Hui Wong said. “The schedule delay can not only further inconvenience the Pike neighborhood and residents, but it can also raise the price because every day it passes, there’s inflation and unpredictable cost increase.”
In a statement, Chair Libby Garvey said, “Unfortunately, an
easement alone is not enough to build this new intersection in a way
that would provide the entire community with these increased safety
benefits. Currently, no one is living in the home, and no one has lived
in it for years. The county has been attempting to engage in discussions
with the property owner’s conservator since January 2023 and has
provided a bona fide offer to purchase the home above appraised value,
based on two separate appraisals. The county has communicated a
willingness to consider other appraisals to resolve any dispute as to
value, but to date, it has not received a counter appraisal or any other
objective basis upon which it can offer a higher price.”
Eminent domain in an historically Black neighborhood
Garvey acknowledged that juggling safety improvements means having to take a home away from a Black family in an historically Black community.
“I want to recognize the hard spot it puts us all in,” she said.
Arlington View, formerly known as Johnson’s Hill, was a community where land was purchased by former ex-slaves and other enslaved people who escaped to Virginia, according to Dr. Scott Taylor of the Black Heritage Museum of Arlington.
Taylor said the community, which was once the majority Black population, has dwindled to just about 8%.
“The county needs to slow down a little bit,” Taylor told WUSA9. “We need to all sit down and talk about this because there’s always a plan B.”
For now it seems both parties are firm on their arguments, meaning for Fortson, the foundation to fight this remains steadfast.
"This could happen to you," she said. "If you think this is just a
single case cause it is not. If I can help it, I'm going to fight that
history is retained."
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'Just want this to be over' | Woman fights to prevent Arlington County from acquiring family's home
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