Lincolnites who were forced to give up homes, businesses and land to make way for the Antelope Valley Project have been paid well for their trouble.
DEENA WINTER / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Monday, October 27, 2008 7:00 pm
Lincolnites who were forced to give up homes, businesses and land to make way for the Antelope Valley Project have been paid well for their trouble.
A Journal Star analysis of Antelope Valley purchases shows property owners were paid an average of 44 percent more than what the county assessor thought their property was worth. The purchase prices for 44 homes and 19 businesses were compared with their assessed value.
Why the gap? The assessed value is supposed to be at least 92 percent of the fair market value —or what a house might sell for. But the county assessed values sometimes deviate from fair market values, particularly on commercial property.
When the city declared 200 blocks blighted for Antelope Valley in 2003, the door was open to eminent domain — the government’s right to take private property for public projects.
Property owners had no choice but to sell.
The city appraises the property to come up with a fair market value and makes an offer. If negotiations with the owner fail, eminent domain can be used to take the property, and a court determines what is “just compensation.”
Condemnation has been used on about 20 percent of the Antelope Valley properties.
Urban Development Director David Landis said the purchase prices have been higher than assessed values because the county’s values are based on older sales information.
And, he said, the city makes solid offers.
“We don’t try to low ball,” he said, although the purchase price for 15 pieces of property was lower than the county’s assessed value. In one case, 57 percent less.
Of 46 property owners who have sold to the city, nine went to condemnation court to fight for a better price. Of those nine, seven settled and two appealed their cases to district court.
The Journal Star analysis shows those nine property owners didn’t fare any better in condemnation court; their purchase prices were, on average, just 26 percent higher than the assessed value.
Landis said the city’s offers were largely upheld by appraisers in condemnation court.
On the other side of the scale, one property owner was paid 243 percent more than the assessed value of a dozen vacant lots at 1520 Claremont St., near what is now the Big T overpass southwest of the Devaney Center.
Shirley Keelan’s family was paid $105,000 for property the county assessor valued at $30,600. Keelan said independent appraisers valued the land even higher. She said the city first offered about $80,000.
“They didn’t want to give us anything,” she said. “We figured it was worth more money.”
They went to condemnation court and got more money, but Keelan is still bitter about losing her family’s land.
“It was just something that was gonna happen,” she said. “You can’t stop it.”
Dave Pauley is happy with the price he was paid for his two-story, four-bedroom rental house at 2112 Vine St., which was needed to make way for the Vine Street Bridge.
The county valued the property at $42,400; Pauley got $66,000 for it.
While the appraisal price wasn’t as high as he’d hoped, he felt it was close to market value — but the price didn’t take into account lost rental income, he said.
“We’re taking a loss on those type of things,” he said.
And he wasn’t so satisfied when the city came knocking to buy another rental house at 2301 Vine St.
He said developer Fernando Pages had repeatedly tried to buy the property, but Pauley didn’t want to sell because it was a good rental.
Next thing he knew, the city was doing a redevelopment project with Pages, and he felt condemnation was hanging over his head.
“That one they forced on us,” he said. “They were gonna get it one way or another.”
His house was replaced by Liberty Village, the first Antelope Valley housing development, a block of close-knit homes at 24th and Vine streets, where owners fly flags from their porches celebrating their nationality.
City officials are proud of Liberty Village and claim it as an Antelope Valley victory.
“It is, in my estimation, a raging success,” Landis said.
And although he wasn’t the head of the department at the time the property was bought for Liberty Village, Landis said staffers don’t recall anyone threatening condemnation.
But Pauley isn’t the only one who felt condemnation hanging over his head.
Clair Munyon said the city forced him to sell his rental home at 2304 U St. for Liberty Village. He said Pages tried to buy his property months before and, when he and Pauley wouldn’t sell, the city stepped in.
“You don’t have any choice. You cannot fight it,” Munyon said. “You can get paid more sometimes, but you still have to sell it.”
Pages did not return a phone call seeking comment, but Landis was adamant the sales were at arm’s length.
“The city forced no one out,” he said.
Despite their bitter feelings over Liberty Village, both Pauley and Munyon support Antelope Valley, saying it will improve the neighborhood where they own rentals.
“Antelope Valley Project for me was good,” Munyon said. “I think it’s a good idea. I got a lot of properties around there.”
Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.