FARGO — As construction continues on the Fargo-Moorhead Area Diversion, project leaders are chipping away at another piece of the puzzle: obtaining property rights.

Using eminent domain lawsuits, Diversion officials are obtaining the property rights needed to store floodwater on land south of the Fargo-Moorhead area during extreme floods. Those property rights come in the form of flowage easements, which will allow the Diversion Authority to temporarily flood around 29,000 acres of land south of the metro when the project operates.

So far, there have been three eminent domain trials to determine how much landowners will be paid for property rights. Diversion officials continue to negotiate settlement agreements with landowner groups in hopes of avoiding jury trials.

In eminent domai

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