Metro-Detroit Municipality Pays Over $800,000 to Settle Taking from Luxury Home for Road Widening
A Metro-Detroit City involved in the taking of road frontage from a newly constructed luxury home just settled with the property owner. The Owner was in the process of constructing a multi-million dollar luxury home. Since the property fronted a major road, it was setback 119 feet (far more than required by the zoning ordinance). This extraordinary large setback allowed for a horseshoe driveway with the middle filled with vegetation that would screen the home from the road.
The City acquire 47 feet of frontage. While the City’s appraiser recognized that this taking reduced the value of the property, he significantly undersold the impact. He compared the property to far more modest homes valued and determined that a 5% damage to the remainder applied. The appraiser also engaged in a typical, agency-side tactic by assuming away certain damages. The taking included the area in which masonry pillars and a privacy gate was intended to be installed. The City’s appraiser assumed that as part of the project, the pillars and gate would be constructed at the City’s expense.
The owners’ appraisal took into account all the impacts of the taking. It relied upon information provided by the designer of the home, who described the type of landscrape screening that had been intended and provided illustrations reflecting what could have been done both before an after the taking.
Rather than go to trial, the City settled the case. It paid more than three times what it offered in just compensation, going from $190,000 to $598,623. In addition, the City paid $32,209 in interest, $24,487 reflecting every expense incurred by the owner including for experts and court costs, and the entire $146,944 contingent attorney fee. As a result, the owners’ net recovery went from $190,000 to $630,831 with every expense incurred to achieve that result reimbursed by the City.
This case demonstrates that road widenings can have significant impacts on value. For residential properties, the impacts often relate to the loss of vegetation that screen homes combined by projects that bring the impacts closer to the homes.