The City of Cape Girardeau has settled a Bloomfield Road condemnation case by agreeing to pay an additional $15,240 to the affected property owner, bringing total compensation to $24,000.

Property owner Mary Auer and the city agreed on the compensation, bringing an end to the nearly 3-year-old case. Judge Rob Fulton entered the consent judgment Monday.

Three court-appointed commissioners concluded in 2016 that Auer should receive $8,760 for property taken for the Bloomfield Road improvement project.

The project involved street improvements and construction of a walking trail.

Auer went to court, arguing for greater compensation.

Auer’s attorney, James F. Waltz, said Tuesday the settlement was helped by the fact the city erected a fence to keep people on the new walking trail from trespassing on her property and accessing her pond.

Waltz said he had priced the cost of a fence at $12,000. He said, however, he doesn’t know what the city paid for the fencing.

He credited the city with installing the fence, something that initially the city was not prepared to do.

“It looks better and it makes sense,” he said, adding the city also made improvements to a levee bordering a pond on Auer’s property.

“It was the right thing to do,” Waltz said.

City manager Scott Meyer said city officials are glad the case has “come to a conclusion.”

He added, “We feel we came to a good compromise considering the facts of the case.”

The court case is the second and final case involving compensation for a Bloomfield Road property owner.

In June, the Missouri Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from the city over the taking of land from Elmwood Farms, which is owned by Patrick and Cheryl Evans. Auer is the sister of Patrick Evans.

Waltz represented all three property owners.

The high court’s refusal let stand an appeals court ruling that concluded the city must pay “heritage value” for the land taken from Elmwood Farms on top of the $90,000 the city had agreed to pay, pushing total compensation to $135,000.

Both parties agreed in the Elmwood Farms case the Spanish-land-grant property was settled by a Cape Girardeau pioneer family and has been in the same family for more than 200 years.

Waltz said Auer’s case involved less property.

“It was all about the recreational trail and its impact on her property and the pond,” he said.

Protecting her spring-fed pond was “the big deal,” Waltz said.

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