300-Plus Properties Affected by Purple Line Plans

The Purple Line light rail that is planned to connect Bethesda and New Carrollton will require more than just the to construct it—the rail will also require the condemnation of an anticipated 31 residential properties and an anticipated 43 commercial properties.

Nine institutional properties will be condemned and Purple Line rights-of-way will be needed from 322 properties, the Maryland Transit Administration anticipates, according to a Real Estate Management and Acquisition Plan draft the administration prepared last August.

A 2008 analysis by the Maryland Transit Administration had estimated that only a dozen homes and apartment buildings and between 16 and 19 businesses would need to be condemned, The Washington Post reported.

But, detailed engineering plans developed for the light rail route since 2008 have revealed that more properties will need to be taken over by eminent domain—particularly in the Riverdale area, where the right-of-way for the Purple Line is not as wide as that between Bethesda and Silver Spring (along the Capital Crescent Trail), The Post added.

The addresses of these homes and businesses have not yet been released, however.

"MTA officials declined to release the information, saying it includes property value estimates that could become part of future negotiations," and adding that the list could remain in flux for some time, The Post reported.

Construction of the Purple Line is not projected to begin before 2015, and the line is not scheduled to open before 2020, according to Maryland Transit Administration officials.

"As mandated by law, property owners will receive fair market value for any land and/or buildings the MTA must acquire for this project," according to the Real Estate Management and Acquisition Plan draft the administration prepared last August.

"A qualified, licensed independent appraiser will visit [a condemned] property and consider recent sales in the same community or neighborhood, as well as current building costs and land values," the plan continued.

Property owners will be notified before an appraisal is conducted, and will be invited to be present during the appraisal, in order to point out special features—interior and exterior—of the property, according to the Real Estate Management and Acquisition Plan.

"Property owners may, at their own cost, obtain their own appraisal," the plan added.

As for the non-condemned private properties abutting the Purple Line, it is unlikely that construction equipment will occupy their back yards, said Michael Madden, chief of project development for the Maryland Transit Administration’s Office of Planning, and Harriet Levine, a transportation consultant, at a .

But, Madden and Levine cautioned that some of the fences surrounding abutting properties might actually be standing in the public right-of-way, in which case the fences might need to come down.