Waxahachie, TX (WBAP/KLIF) – A Waxahachie business owner is fighting the Texas Department of Transportation in an effort to keep her business from being swallowed up in an eminent domain dispute.
Nelda Brown, owner of Red Barn Flea Market, Antiques & More has so far refused to accept TxDOT’s buyout offer to make way for a bridge construction project along Highway 77. She didn’t give the actual dollar amount but says of the offer, “It wouldn’t pay my mortgage.”
Her business of six years started out her love of “junk,” and has grown to over 80 vendors who would also be displaced.
Brown says TxDOT initially only wanted 3-feet of her building, but now wants it condemned saying that altering it would render the building structurally unsound.She tells us that the building is metal that can be structurally sound.
“It’s got beams. I’ve had two builders already come in. They haven’t even had an engineer out.”
There is an upcoming hearing on the matter at which Brown plans to present a petition bearing thousands of signatures in support of saving her business.
“All I can do is try to save the building since they’re already going to take what they want on the side of the building, you know to bring the bridge over, said Brown.”
Among those who have signed the petition is one supporter who wrote:
“I’m signing because, I hate to see small business and parts of a towns history destroyed in the name of progress! The government shouldn’t be allowed to condemn and tear down a building just because they want the land. That is NOT what this country is supposed to be about.”
We have reached out to TxDOT for comment on the story to no avail.
Six other businesses were affected; some have already closed.
The project, slated to begin late 2019 or 2020 would replace an old bridge on Highway 77 and build a second bridge that runs parallel to it.
Copyright 2018. WBAP/KLIF News. All Rights Reserved.
