Berdos awarded nearly $1 million for 63 acres

    The Washington County Compensation Commission awarded John and Jan Berdo just under $1 million in compensation for a 63-acre parcel of land northwest of the Washington Airport. The city of Washington has sought to acquire the land through eminent domain in order to extend one of the runways 750 feet farther northwest, to move it away from the Airport Road east of it.

    The six commissioners met at the sheriff?s office shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday and listened to testimony from John Berdo, his attorney Chuck Meardon of Iowa City, the city?s attorney Bob Goodwin of Ames and Airport Commission Chairman Mike Roe, among others. The commissioners inspected the property that morning and reunited at the sheriff?s office for further discussion. The two sides completed their testimony at roughly 2:30 p.m. After an hour of deliberation, the commissioners handed down their decision of $996,274 in total compensation.

    Of the nearly $1 million sum, $916,274 was for the land. The Berdos were awarded $70,000 in damages to the remaining part of the farm and $10,000 for attorney fees.

John said the amount of money the commission chose was ?close? to what he hoped for but nevertheless ?on the short end.?

    ?The $10,000 in attorney fees is my biggest concern because it?s way short,? said John. ?This process has cost me a lot of money. The city has tax dollars to pay for its attorney and I don?t. I have to pay my attorney out of my award.?

     John said he hoped for an award between $1 million and $1.1 million, but added that he is by no means upset with the outcome. He said he comprehends that the city needs the land for the runway. The disagreement he had with the city was the price tag for that land.

    ?I am not against the airport,? he said. ?If this is what they need to do, I understand that.?

    Both sides in the case have 30 days to appeal the decision to district court. John said he will have to speak with his two sons before he decides whether to accept the commission?s verdict.

    ?I thought the compensation commissioners did the best they could with what they had to work with,? said Berdo. ?I appreciate the commissioners spending their time to do this.?

    Commissioner Dean Edwards of Brighton said the commission decided the compensation award after considering the sale price of other properties in the area. He said the commissioners had no knowledge of the offers the city made to the Berdos in prior negotiations. He said they did have access to the appraised values before and after the property was condemned.

For more, see our Sept. 1 print edition.