North Texas family fights to keep property's value amid city's plan for road development

In the city of Rowlett, one family says their property is caught up in a road improvement plan and is trying to fight back.

"We moved here in 1962. This was undeveloped farmland," said Roy Willis. "All this land behind us, that was cotton fields, corn fields."

Willis said his four-generation family home sits near Lake Ray Hubbard and a two-lane road known as Chiesa.

The city says the road has become too narrow for traffic flow and plans to widen it. However, the Willis family says the development plan will slash their property in half.

"They're gonna take 40 feet, 40 feet is going to stand right here," Roy Willis pointed out.

For Rowlett's Chiesa Road Improvement Project, which will widen the roadway, the city is buying private land. The city already owns a nearby lot and other parcels and wants to tear down the Willis house for the public road expansion.

But there's a price to acquire private property for public use under eminent domain rules.

The Willises believe Rowlett's offers are well below the market value of the land under development just one block away.

"You're coming in claiming eminent domain, you're forcing us out," said one Willis member. "You don't want to compensate us fairly for forcing us out."

Roy Willis said, "Because of this billion-dollar development that's going on within 1,000 ft… Rowlett didn't sell the land to the developer. They gave him a 100-year lease. They're going to make income for 100 years. So, just compensate us accordingly."

The city has declined to comment due to pending litigation, but a final letter to the Willis family shows an offer for $429,000. The family said no.