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Scottsdale loses in Sonoran Preserve land seizure appeal
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Scottsdale’s efforts to condemn lands for the McDowell Sonoran Preserve continue to face trouble, with the Arizona Court of Appeals Thursday throwing out a verdict in the case of 50 acres the city seized from development firm CGP-Aberdeen.
The ruling means the city could end up paying significantly more for the land, on Rio Verde Drive just south of The Golf Club Scottsdale, 29001 N. 122nd St., said Dale Zeitlin, lawyer for CGP-Aberdeen.
Zeitlin also represents Toll Bros. developers in a separate condemnation case involving the preserve, in which a jury recently placed the value of 383 acres the city condemned in 2004 at $82 million — about $48 million higher than the city expected.
If the city decides to appeal that verdict, Zeitlin said the ruling in the CGP-Aberdeen case could allow him to seek an even higher price for the Toll Bros. property because of a delay in the city’s seizure of the parcel.
Bruce Washburn, the assistant city attorney handling both cases, said he couldn’t comment on ongoing lawsuits, other than to say the issues are more complex than Zeitlin presents.
“This is ongoing litigation, so I’m not going to comment on the merits of that,” Washburn said.
In the CGP-Aberdeen case, the city argued that state law pegs the value of condemned land on the day of the initiation of condemnation proceedings. The land’s value on that date, Jan. 13, 2003, was $4.88 million.
CGP-Aberdeen, on the other hand, argued that the land should be priced on the date the city actually took possession. That didn’t happen until 18 months later, on July 15, 2004. Zeitlin said the real estate market was booming at the time, and the land’s value increased significantly in the interim.
“It’s very important because the city doesn’t have to pay the appraised value or interest until it takes possession,” he said.
While a Maricopa County Superior Court ruling upheld the city’s position, the appeals court threw that decision out Thursday and ordered a new trial to determine the land’s value on the date of the actual transfer of possession. The process now essentially starts over, and could take up to two years, Zeitlin said.
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