Tooele County v. Ferrebee
Utah Supreme Court
844 P.2d 308 (Utah 1992)
Increases or decreases to property value due to the project being built are not considered to determine fair compensation for property taken in an eminent domain action.
If additional property is acquired because the “scope of the project” requires it, no additional compensation for project enhancement is available. If the property in question was not part of the scope of the project, then its value could be enhanced due to the presence of the public project.
The “scope of the project” test requires a showing that during the course of planning or of the original construction of a project, it became evident that the land in question would also be needed as part of the overall project, even it was not originally taken.